


Alya

by W01FS0NG



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Harry Potter - Fandom, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Draco Malfoy/OFC - Freeform, Draco just wants a non-Slytherin friend, F/F, F/M, Gen, Harry Potter/OFC - Freeform, Harry’s a good friend, Hermione’s a good friend, Main character was raised by Stephen Strange, OC’s a good friend, Ron’s a friend, Sorry Not Sorry, main character is a Ravenclaw, she has her own mystical artifact, this goes along with the movies, this is more just about her time at Hogwarts than anything else (sort of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 66,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22134820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W01FS0NG/pseuds/W01FS0NG
Summary: Alya Cortez has the ability to turn into a peregrine falcon. She used to live in the United States. However, because of a certain incident, she ran away from home. She then came upon a strange building. There, she met and trained with Doctor Strange. She had nowhere else to be. At first, they were unsure about teaching people the arts at a young age, but Alya could handle it. She was a really good master of the art. Out of all the mystic houses in the world, aside from the ancient temple, she liked the house in London. The girl even adopted an accent. The girl also regularly went out into the world enough for certain people to acknowledge her existence. She was accepted into Hogwarts. She also just so happens to be in the same year as Harry Potter.
Kudos: 15





	1. Hogwarts Year one

**Author's Note:**

> Is it bad that I don't like the first two movies as much as I like all the others?  
> Anyway, the first two chapters are going to be sort of background like. Things start to pick up in the third chapter.  
> If you want to skip ahead to the third chapter be my guest.  
> Also, let's pretend that the Doctor Strange Movie happened in the early '90's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, along the way, you will read something about a gem called the Charoite Gem of Azarath. It is basically if Raven (From DC) was able to save the people of Azarath from her demon father’s wrath by putting them into a charoite gem.

Alya Cortez has the ability to turn into a peregrine falcon. She used to live in the United States. However, because of a certain incident, she ran away from home. She then came upon a strange building. There, she met and trained with Doctor Strange. She had nowhere else to be. At first, they were unsure about teaching people the arts at a young age, but Alya could handle it. She was a really good master of the art. Out of all the mystic houses in the world, aside from the ancient temple, she liked the house in London. The girl even adopted an accent. The girl also regularly went out into the world enough for certain people to acknowledge her existence. She was accepted into Hogwarts. She also just so happens to be in the same year as Harry Potter.

Going into this, she knew it was going to be hard. How can she balance learning a new kind of magic with the mystic art she already knows? Will they find out about her ability? Either way or really, any which way, this is her life now. She’s now a witch. She has to keep her status as a Master of The Mystic Arts a secret. At least, for now.

When she got her wand, it was interesting to see. The wands were like the mystical artifacts in a way that they choose you. Her mystical artifact is a necklace with a single Charoite gemstone as its pendant. It’s called the gemstone of Azarath. Doctor Strange didn’t let her bring that along. (He also didn’t let her bring her phone. Instead, she’ll have to send him owls). He did, however, let her bring along her mystic robe. (It’s like Doctor Strange’s but a light lavender color.) 

Her wand is cool though. It’s a spruce wood with a dragon heartstring core. It’s 12 and a half with pliant flexibility. The girl chose a hawk-owl because the bird was from America. Everything else she got was standard.

She sat alone on the train ride over, not really willing to socialize with anyone yet. Even though it could serve useful in the long term, right now, she just wants to be by herself. 

They were almost there. She heard a knock on the door. Alya got up from her spot close to the window and opened up the piece of wood.

“Um, hi,” said a girl with brunette wavy hair. “I’m just going around telling people that they should put on their school robes.” The first second she heard her voice, Alya knew this girl was an uppity know-it-all.

“Oh um, thank you,” Alya responded, sounding neutral. Then, her eyes squinted. “Where can I get one of those?” 

The girl smiled and said, “Follow me.” The brunette led the black haired girl a few cars down. There, hung at least a thousand robes. “They don’t have a house insignia on them, but they do have the overall Hogwarts insignia, and I’m pretty sure they’re all the same size. So, take your pick.”

“I’m sorry, house?” Alya asked, careful not to lose her English accent.

“Oh, um, when we get there, there’s this talking hat that goes through your personality traits and picks a house for you based on your most dominant trait.”

“Oh, uh, cool,” said the black-haired girl as she searched for a robe. They really were all the same size, so she just picked one.

“I’m Hermione Granger, by the way,” she said, extending her hand as if she expected it to be shook. 

Alya tried not to roll her eyes as she shook Hermione’s hand. “Alya Cortez.” The brunette smiled.

On their way back to Alya’s lonely booth, Hermione asked, “You were there alone, would you like to come back with me to my booth? I’m sure my friends wouldn’t mind.” 

Alya started considering if this girl actually had friends that she knew beforehand, or if she just met them on this train ride and automatically assumed they were friends.

The black-haired girl decided what the heck and she agreed to go. When they got to the booth, she saw that there was another kid like herself with black hair, (although a lighter skin tone) and a ginger boy.

“This is Harry Potter, and Ronald Weasly,” Hermione introduced her.

“I told you I prefer to be called Ron,” the ginger stated, chewing on a piece of candy. Actually, the seats were almost covered in a thin layer of sweets.

“Right, well, boys, this is Alya Cortez, Alya Cortez, these two are my friends,” Hermione continued. The one Alya assumes was Harry smiled, said hi, and waved. The ginger then did the same.

The dark-haired girl decided in her head that by the way the three of them interacted, they had just met.

It wasn’t long until they arrived at school. Alya looked around for the person of interest so much that she lost the trio. Then, she noticed that everyone stopped, and were paying attention to the people in front. It seemed as though they had formed a circle. Some blonde guy was talking to Harry. Alya couldn’t exactly hear so she asked the person next to her, “Hey, what’s going on? Can you hear anything?”

“Draco Malfoy just asked Harry Potter to be his friend,” a boy states in a whisper. “I think Harry’s rejecting him.”

“Why is this such a big deal?” Alya questioned.

“Are you a mudblood?” the boy asked.

“Excuse me?” The black-haired girl asked with a scrunched face.

“Sorry, muggle-born,” the boy stated. He received no answer, and the two of them stopped talking.

“He means to ask you if you grew up in a magic family, or a non-magic family,” someone whispered to her from behind. She turned to face them. “Anyway, Draco Malfoy is a very rich kid, who will definitely go into Slytherin, and Harry Potter is the boy who lived.”

“What?” Alya asked, still confused. The second boy continued speaking, picking up on her confusion.

“He’s the only person not to die from the hand of V-Voldemort.” He seemed like he regretted saying that name.

Some girl shushed him, saying, “Don’t say his name.”

“Right, sorry,” the second boy apologized.

All of a sudden, some older looking woman walked into view. She spoke articulately, and clearly. However, Alya wasn’t paying much attention to her, she was still looking for her target. The girl she was supposed to monitor. Alya knows the girl’s name, too, so if someone should call upon her by name, she’ll know where she is.

Next, the sea of students walked into what looked like a mess hall. Food was put on the tables and older-looking students had already sat down. One by one, new students were called by name. They were seated in a wooden chair, and a hat was placed upon their heads. The hat spoke and sorted them into what must be a house. Each student went to their respective tables. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all sorted into Gryffindor. Even the hat made a big deal about Harry being there. Hermione had a good four minutes on the chair as the hat seemed to be choosing between two different houses. It might be nice to be with them, but being in the same house as her target would be better.

Each house had a different color too. Gryffindor was red, Ravenclaw is blue, Slytherin is green and Hufflepuff is yellow. The order of the tables seemed to go Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor.

Finally, McGonagall had called her name. She walked up the steps and sat in the seat. The hat hummed. “Interesting,” he said, “Very interesting.” He then hummed once more before exclaiming, “Ravenclaw!!”

The people on the left-center table cheered. Quickly, Alya made it to her table.

She watched as the next person stepped up. Marcella Smilovici. The hat wasted little time in saying, Ravenclaw. Like on the dark-haired girl’s turn, all the Ravenclaw’s cheered.

“Dude!” Alya called her over to sit next to her. The girl did. “Hi, I’m Alya Cortez.” The other girl smiled and stepped up to her.

“I heard,” said Marcella. She had mousy brown hair. Her skin was a nice peach color. Not too tan, not too pale. “My name’s Marcella. Marcella Smilovici.”

“I heard,” Alya returned. The two smiled and giggled at each other.

As the rest of the first years were sorted. As expected by the other students, Draco Malfoy was put into Slytherin. 

Alya and Marcella got to know each other a little. Marcella told that she grew up in Liverpool, she had a distant father, her mother and her are really close, and her favorite color is cyan. Her favorite fruit is a strawberry. Alya told that she was really from New York, but her adopted father and her moved to London for his work. Her favorite color is lavender and her favorite fruit is a raspberry.

The dark-haired girl with the light olive skin found herself very lucky in this moment. She has an immediate friend in the same house, and as she later found out, they shared a room in the Ravenclaw tower! Was it a twist of fate? Of luck? Alya chose to leave that in the air.

The two of them unpacked and went to bed. Alya was very careful when unpacking her ‘master of the mystic arts’ robe, she was very careful. The girl didn’t know if her roommate knew about the mystic arts at all, so she was careful.

What would people here think of Alya being a master of the mystic arts? The one question that would all be on their minds is why she would be studying magic in the first place, since she already knew the arts. 

Answer: Because she wants to. She’s good at the mystic arts, but magic has a certain appeal to it that the mystic arts didn’t. Strange could understand. He was hesitant about sending her here, but she really wanted to go.

Besides, since she isn’t allowed to perform magic in the outside world. She can, however, still perform mystic arts!

Anyway, would she be considered as a mudblood? Or muggle or whatever? She’s read up on things while in Diagon Alley and found a book on animagi and maledicti. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was what she was. Her ability to turn into a peregrine falcon must make her a maledictus, right? She wouldn’t be an animagus because a witch or wizard would have to become one later on in life instead of being born with the skill. Maledicti are born with the skill, but will eventually become that animal in later years. The thought of that almost scared her. All she knows is that she loves flying, and can’t not do it. She felt free, away from the circumstances that surround her on the streets of London and New York. 

The only reason she prefers the London sanctuary over the New York sanctuary where Strange lives is because it’s so far away. Far away from what happened to her as a child. The reason that she took up mystic arts in the first place.

Hang on, she wouldn’t be considered a muggle, because she is a maledictus. People like that aren’t randomly born with the curse, women pass it on by blood. So, her biological mother was a witch. That at least makes her a half-blood.

* * *

She’s sure that her classes would be very interesting this week. The schedule alone she finds a tad bit peculiar. First, there was breakfast, then depending on the day, there were two classes or a double class (the same class for two periods), then break. Next is a double class, then lunch. After that, (also depending on the day) there were either two classes or one double. After that was homework time, then dinner. Everyone had to be at least in their dorms by 9:00 (21:00). However, on Wednesday, there’s an Astronomy class at 10 p.m.

Her first class was charms. Marcella and Alya had gotten down the levitating charm quite well. Although, most everyone didn’t. As both of them demonstrated the spell a second time to Flitwick, he told them to help other students with the spell. By the end of the class, a few more people had gotten it.

The next class was Herbology. It mostly consisted of lectures on magical plants. Their uses, specifications, and the likes. She learned what plants could help a witch or wizard, and what could harm a witch or wizard. Even though it was a lecture, no one fell asleep because Sprout kept it fun and interesting.

Her double-time class was potions. Contrary to most people in that class, she found it fairly easy. There’s a step by step process of which can never be strayed from. Everything is meticulous and well thought out. 

A few hours ago, she heard that Hermione had cried after she went to Charms class. The word was that some of her fellow Gryffindors were making fun of her. Out of actually needing to go, Alya ventured to the bathroom before lunch. True to her thoughts, she found Hermione in one of the stalls crying. Of course, she had a pretty good guess as to why. Though that doesn’t mean that she’ll comfort the girl. Even so, if she keeps this up, she’ll miss lunch, and probably the other classes of the day. Knowing her, she’ll probably beat herself up over being too upset about what some boy said to miss precious class time. Or, maybe she doesn’t care about class anymore and all about what that boy had said to her.

It’s almost lunch anyway. 

Just as Alya was about to head out the door, she changed her mind, instead, going to the other occupied stall. She knocked on the door.

“Hermione?” The black-haired girl started. “Are you okay?” That was a stupid question. She’s crying. Of course, she’s not okay.

“No,” the brunette responded. Alya didn’t think she would actually respond.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Was Alya Cortez’s next question. To that, the young witch opened the door and came out. Tears streamed down her face. The Hispanic witch’s facial features softened. “Come here,” she said with open arms.

Hermione hugged the other witch tight and sobbed onto her shoulder. Alya comforted her. The brunette told of her troubles.

“You know it’s just stupid boys being boys, right?” The black-haired witch asked her.

Hermione nodded. A small smile showed on her face for a few seconds. 

They stayed like that for a few more minutes until the Granger finally calmed down. 

When they were just halfway through the hall on their way to the mess hall, a troll stumbled around right in front of them.

Alya knew she could probably use her mystic arts, but that would risk her being discovered, and probably sent to Dumbledore. Wanting to lay low for just a little while longer, she took Hermione’s arm and yelled, “Run!” 

They did and made it the long way around to the mess hall.

On their way there, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape came along to save them. Afterward, they asked them what had happened.

Alya’s story: “I went into the bathroom for myself and to check up on Hermione as she was crying for a long while there, I comforted her, and when we were on our way to the mess hall for lunch, a troll came about and we ran. Then you came.”

Hermione’s story: “I went into the bathroom to get away from two Gryffindors who were making fun of me. Then, Alya came along and we talked. After I had calmed down we decided to go over to the mess hall when the troll came by. We ran, and then you came to save us.”

After very little thinking, McGonagall awarded three house points to both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.

The remainder of that day’s classes were spent on a double class of Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was actually pretty cool. The professor, Proff. Quirrell, really likes teaching the kids. He made the class kind of fun.

The next day she had a double class of Transfigurations first. She enjoyed that class. It reminded her of what she can do with her own body, I.e. turn into a peregrine falcon. But no one here needs to know that. Yet it also brought her sad memories. As long as she can turn into a bird, there will always be someone finding out and hunting her. In fact, there already is. Anyway, besides the constant reminder of that, she had fun with that class.

After the break, the next double class was Charms. Most students were still trying to get Wingardium Leviosa down. Flitwick told Alya and Marcella to help everyone.

Her third class the second day was flying. This class actually wasn’t a double, it was just a single. It was cool. She can now say that the stereotype about witches flying on brooms is correct. Aside from Harry, she was the second one to call up her broom. Marcella was the third, followed by Hermione. Draco decided to stir up some trouble and mess with a boy named Neville’s remember thingy. The blonde threw it. Harry ended up flying and catching it right when the orb was about to crash through a window.

She’s glad that she doesn’t have any other classes with the blonde Slytherin.

History of Magic was her last class on Tuesday. There, she found a textbook called the mystic arts. Wondering as to why that would be there, she flipped through the pages. The book described it as a lost form of magic. (Though Alya knew that not to be true as she knew how to do most of the spells.) It showed the typical master’s attire, as well as some of the magic circles that Alya knew were real spells. The girl then asked if she could take this book and read it on her own. The professor agreed.

For Wednesday, her schedule went: Herbology and Transfiguration, then break, then double charms, then lunch then double potions. 

On Thursday, her classes were: double History of Magic, break, double Transfiguration, lunch, and a double Defense Against The Dark Arts.

On Friday, her schedule was: Charms and History of Magic, break, double Herbology, lunch, then double Potions.

Weeks went by. Alya sent letters to Strange telling him about most things going on. The letter was sent to the London house. She got a response from him in the same fashion weeks later. She found it funny that he typed it up, printed it out, and sent it by an owl.

Sometimes, when she just wanted a moment or two for herself, she sat down in the courtyard sketching mystic symbols and writing their meaning so she wouldn’t forget about them from her time here, learning a completely different style of the same thing, magic. All of those symbols covered up an entire journal. It was small. Its covers were a deep brown leather. Wong had given it to her before she went to school. Knowing that she wished to put pencil to paper a few more times, she sent Wong an owl asking for a new one. He obliged and sent her two more. A letter among with. 

No one got to see what she had put in any of the journals she received. But to Wong, she would explain that the symbols, the techniques and such all filled one and a half journals. The other one was filled with drawings, either from her head or of things all around her. She had sketches of the house-elves doing work. She drew the classrooms and the teachers who taught in them. She drew her owl in varying spots, such as it’s cage (which she rarely forced it into), a branch she had taken from the ground for the owl to perch on, and on the bedpost. Also among her drawings were different shots and angles of a peregrine falcon.

Whenever in the courtyard, she would always bring her school supplies with her, just so that she could have them with her and not worry about rushing to the dorm to her next class.

At one point, Marcella sat out with her. Just to see what it was like. Unbenounced to the girl from Liverpool, the dark-haired and light olive-skinned child sitting next to her drew her features, exactly as she saw them, from the left side angle.

When Marcella got curious, the mousy-brown haired one turned to look at her and asked, “What are you drawing?” She received no answers. Instead, the girl took note of the continuous glances from her to the pages. Then, it hit her. “Are you drawing me?” The only response was a small smile. “Let me see,” she commanded eagerly, reaching out to grasp the notebook. 

Alya’s hands shied away. “It’s not done,” she claimed, almost defensively.

“Can I at least see the progress?” Marcella asked, putting weight on her knuckles as she placed them on the ground, leaning forward.

“Finished product only,” The olive-skinned girl stated.

“Aww, man! Weawy?” The girl pouted.

Alya laughed a little, closing the book far away from her reach. “Yes, weawy,” she copied. At that, Marcella made a pouty face.

The two girls eventually grew closer. Sleeping in the same dorm as someone else would do that to you. Especially with the added benefit of sitting with them in the courtyard every once in a while. They later told each other about their blood status. Marcella is a muggle and Alya is a half-blood, but grew up in a muggle house. 

The mousy haired Ravenclaw knew that her roommate was adopted by a muggle, but was confused about how she knew that she was a half-blood. Alya told her that she just had a feeling.

Marcella’s favorite animal as of now was a dog. Alya’s favorite animal as of now (and this probably won’t ever change) is a peregrine falcon.

Sometimes, when she’s alone and it’s after all the classes are done for the day, she’s done with homework and before dinner, she will go out to the courtyard. She would turn into a peregrine falcon and flew around for a little while before heading in. Throughout all the times she did this, she made sure no one followed her. When she got back she would tell all who were wondering if she was just out for a stroll.

Little did she know the eyes that were watching her.

When Christmas rolled around, Alya traveled to the Mystic Arts Sanctuary in London. From there, she took the portal to New York.

While there with Doctor Strange, she went over and practiced the mystical arts so that she wouldn’t forget anything. 

Their make-shift family was a small one. It was just Steven and Alya. Wong was a family friend. Her real family, the mother that gave her life, the father that cared for them both, they’re gone. She doesn’t have any aunts or uncles. All she has is Steven Strange and Wong.

They didn’t give each other much. Wong got her a new book to read, and Steven bought her a necklace that she kept wanting to get from a particular store. 

After Christmas, she returned to the London Sanctuary and went back to school. There, everything seemed to go back into the swing of things. 

Alya and Marcella started going to the library for extra study time. The final exams were this semester. It was there that they found Hermione doing the same thing. Soon, the three of them found themselves meeting in the library to study since they all had the same subjects. 

Then, one day, Hermione seemed a little distracted. When Marcella asked why she said that there was a three-headed dog in one of the rooms higher up in the staircase hall. 

Marcella wanted to check it out, but Alya advised against it. There should be no reason to get into trouble for something over this. (However, Ravenclaws were secretly known as the ones who did stuff and were smart enough never to get caught.) So, the next night, they went up the steps to a locked door, like Hermione said there would be.

“Alohomora,” Alya whispered.

“When did you learn that?” asked Marcella.

“While you were too busy studying for potions class,” the olive-skinned girl responded.

The two girls slowly opened the door and peeked inside. The room was pitch black. “It’s so dark,” Marcella notes. It wasn’t that quite of a whisper, earning a shush from Alya.

“If this thing really is in here I don’t want it to wake up,” whispered Alya as she crept inside. Holding onto her friend’s robe, Marcella went with her. They slowly closed the door.

“Lumos,” Marcella whispered. Her wand’s tip lit up.

“When did you learn that?” Alya whispered. Flitwick hasn’t taught that one yet.

“While you were too busy reading up on animagi and maledicti.”

 _“Fair enough,”_ the dark-haired one thought.

The two of them slowly stepped further into the room. Alya nudged her fellow raven. “Look.” She pointed at something she found at her feet.

Marcella kneeled down and shown the light on where she pointed. Her eyes squinted. “It almost looks like dark fur.” She circled the perimeter of whatever was in here until she felt like some strange breeze moved around her. Slowly, she raised her wand to the direction it came from.

“What is it? What do you see?” Alya asked.

“I found it,” Marcella stated. “The three-headed dog Hermione mentioned exists.”

Fearful that the light would wake the creature up, Alya harshly whispered, “That’s great, now come on, we can’t wake this thing up.”

“Agreed.” With that, Marcella slowly and quietly snuck away from the beast and over towards her friend. Together they made their way back to the door. The mousy brown-haired girl turned off her charm as they slowly reopened the door.

As quietly as they opened it, they closed it once outside.

On their way back, they found that most of the paintings on the wall were asleep. Save for Rowena.

“Good night, children,” the painting whispered.

The two girls froze. They knew the paintings moved and spoke, but they didn’t think that Rowena was awake.

“Oh, don’t be frightened,” the painting continued. “I won’t tell them that you were sneaking around. You two were only curious.”

Smiling, Alya stated, “Goodnight Ms.”

“Farewell.”

The two girls then fast-walked back into their common room. They had been so quiet and careful that no one except the painting on the door noticed them. 

It was also interesting for Alya to not the difference between Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Both were smart. Yet, in different ways. They could both spin a believable tale as to how they weren’t getting into any trouble at all. However, Ravenclaws were always doing things in a way that would hold the least risk possible while Slytherins almost didn’t care about the risk factor, just as long as it was done and if there were hiccups, they would think of something eventually. Ravenclaws has plans all the way to the letter h, as they really thought about all the things they thought could possibly happen.

During the next week, there was held a quidditch game between two of the houses. It was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Everyone went to it. Alya found herself paying much attention to the game, while Marcella found herself bored.

During the next few months, things were quiet. Things were calm. Everyone seemed to be going about their own business.

Starting from three months before the actual final exams take place, the Ravenclaws held a meeting in their common room to talk about how they’ll study for the coming exams. It was decided that everyone will help everyone with things they were struggling with. That includes older students tutoring the younger ones. They would do so every other night starting this month. Then the next month, there were two days off of studying. Two weeks later, (still into the second month), there would be only one day in the week when they didn’t study. Finally, the month of the exams came, and all of the Ravenclaws studied and reviewed every day.

As far as Alya and Marcella could tell, everyone passed their exams.

On the last day, the winner of the house cup was announced. There were last-minute changes and awards, but the ultimate winner was Gryffindor. 


	2. Hogwarts Year Two

The next year had come. Alya wasn’t and Marcella had used their owls to keep in touch with each other. Now both twelve, they found each other in the train station and found a booth to sit in.

On the train, they saw a flying car whiz past them. The two girls saw it crash into the forest. Whoever was in that car must have been late to the train, Marcella decided.

And they were right, as Ron and Harry came in late to the opening feast. Ron actually broke his wand. The Gryffindors were starting the year off with negative points. Although, the Ravenclaws were pretty sure that those two could very well have been expelled.

The two girls were excited to find that they had a Study of Ancient Runes class, and a class called Care For Magical Creatures. Every other class was the same, except for not having flying class.

* * *

During the downtime of the first day of class, a buzz was alive in the halls. People gathered ‘round to find Mrs. Norris was petrified. Writing on the wall stated, “the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir… beware.”

What the fuck could that mean? Alya wondered. It wasn’t until later on that she found out via another Ravenclaw that they meant that either the heir to Slytherin or quite possibly, the heir to Voldemort.

Rumor has it that Salazar Slytherin built an underground chamber. The very same Chamber of Secrets. He placed a monster inside that on his heir can control. Not much is known other than that.

But who could possibly be the heir? Could it be Draco, as he is basically now called the Prince of Slytherin? Everyone else is satisfied with that answer, but not Marcella, and definitely not Alya. This had to be deeper than that. 

Those were the things racing in Alya’s mind. Her thoughts were only broken up when Filch came in. “What’s going on here?” He asked. “Come on, make way, make way.” The students parted to let him through.

The only one who wasn’t in the mass of students was Potter. Just as Filch was about to ask him what was going on, he looked up to see Mrs. Norris.

Her body hung from a piece of metal that stuck to the wall.

“Mrs. Norris,” Filch recognized. He then said to Harry accusingly, “You’ve murdered my cat.”

Marcella couldn’t let Filch think that. “Mr. Filch, with all due respect, we all found her like that.” Her voice was gentle, her stance normal. The slightest hint of defensiveness. 

“You’re lying,” Filch accuses. He turned back to Potter. “I’ll kill ya.”

“Argus,” Dumbledore stated, stepping in front of the students. The other professors were behind them.

“Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately,” Dumbledore ordered. Everyone turned to leave. “Everyone except… you three.” He pointed to Harry and Hermione. They stayed behind. “Mrs. Norris was not killed, Mr. Filch. She was petrified.”

Everyone went back to their common rooms. Alya stayed up thinking about this for at least a few hours.

_Okay, but what about the Voldemort route? Could he be the person that a student here is heiring from (if that’s even a thing?). But also, what if the heir of Voldemort was a teacher? Rumor has it that Voldemort had latched himself onto Proff. Quirrell’s head. That is until Harry fought him (er, really, them?) and Voldemort went back into hiding. But could he be back? Alya was reading up on him and apparently he had started this whole movement against mudbloods. Apparently, the only reason Harry even survived was that Harry’s mom refused to move aside. There has to be something deeper than just refusing to step aside to a dark lord like him. Maybe someone made a deal with him about not killing her? And when she refused to step aside, he killed her anyway and he broke the deal and Voldemort got zapped away? Leaving Harry with a scar on his forehead?_

That seems to be the only logical reason Alya can come up with.

_But back to the heir of Slytherin. Maybe they mean Salazar Slytherin. Maybe a blood relative of him still exists today, and they are trying to invoke his ideals of muggle-borns and Muggles onto the school? But who else besides Draco would want to do that?_

Anyway, it’s late, and they have class tomorrow, so Alya should probably get some sleep.

* * *

The next day, the classes were supposed to be carried out as normal, but everyone kept talking about what happened. So much so, that McGonagall had to call order in her own class. Flitwick too. With Snape, however, all he had to do was speak semi-threatening words of detention and the whole class quieted down.

Defense against the dark arts was interesting with a man named Gilderoy Lockhart. (Alya and Marcella had to look him up in the library.) He was the author of oh so many books. So many adventures to have been written down. It’s almost like he has too much adventure. This man must have the greatest luck in the world to be alive for this long and not killed by any of his adventures. The books all say they happened in real life. Yet somehow, Alya didn’t think that possible. Marcella thought he was too much like that one guy who had so many jobs and sounded way too cool to be true on paper. Actually, in class, it almost seemed like he didn’t quite know what he was doing.

* * *

  
A few days later, Alya and Marcella found themselves in the library again. This time, they were both studying for their Ancient Runes class.

If Hermione’s steps hadn’t been so loud, they would have never looked up from their books.

“Hey, Hermione,” Alya greeted before looking back down at her book.

“Hey,” the Gryffindor repeated. She walked past the two girls before backtracking at a slower pace. She stopped in front of Alya. “Hey, do you by any chance know where the potions books are?”

Alya and Marcella both looked up from their books and turned towards each other. They squinted in thought. “Probably towards the middle section of the left-hand side wall coming from the door,” Marcella guessed.

Hermione took into consideration the location and committed it to memory. The girl then left muttering a small thanks.

A few minutes later, Hermione walked past them again. This time, with a book about the polyjuice potion. Whatever she, Ron, and Harry are planning, it could be very risky. One of these days, Alya might have to teach them how not to get caught.

Well, whatever they were planning, they might just make it to the next day, maybe.

* * *

Weeks went by, two kids were petrified. First Filch’s cat, now this? What’s worse, Alya and Marcella are both muggle-born witches. Or at least, Alya thinks that she is. She’s not entirely sure given that she was adopted by a muggle-born. They could be petrified at any moment. What’s weird, however, is why it affected a cat. Could it be that Mrs. Norris is also a maledictus? Or is she just a grumpy old cat?

As those days went by, some began to question Hagrid and his giant arachnid friend. A similar event to the ones of this year occurred when he was in school, and the spider was young. The half-giant was taken off the campus grounds. No one was really close to him, except for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were the only ones who seemed quite saddened by it.

* * *

Another Quidditch match was held. It was between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Something seemed wrong with a certain bludger. It followed Harry around with what seemed like murderous intent. Looking around the stadium to see who it could be, her eyes turned into a peregrine falcon’s for a minute for better eyesight. She was careful not to let anyone see them.

Snape was muttering something. Maybe uttering a chant? Could he be the one doing this to Harry? Maybe. Harry and Snape haven’t really seen eye to eye, but maybe there’s something she isn’t seeing here. 

The girl looked again and found a small house elf was sneaking away from the scene. 

_“That_ _house-elf must have done it,”_ Alya thought. _“But why would a house-elf want to hurt Harry? Unless… No. Could he be one of Malfoy’s elves?”_

All of a sudden, Snape’s robe caught on fire and Harry’s arm was broken by the Bludger. The boy managed to catch the snitch however and ended the game.

Noticing that he was just laying there, everyone rushed from the stands.

Lockhart tried to help, but only screwed up his arm even more than it already was. Further exemplifying his stupidity and qualifications for being a teacher here. The boy had to go to the infirmary at the time.

* * *

  
  


A few weeks later, no one has any sort of clues as to who is or what is petrifying students. 

The school, or really, Snape and Lockhart decided to put on a dueling thing. It was in the mess hall. The tables had been rearranged into one long one and a cloth of the moon cycle covered them.

Lockhart walked on top of it. “Can everybody see me?” The blonde professor asked as he paced the stage. A chorus of yes sounded. He then asked if everyone could hear him. The same chorus spoke.

“In light of the dark events in recent weeks,” he continued. “Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club to train you all up. In case you ever need to defend yourself, as I myself have done on countless occasions.” The man kept pacing on the stage. Marcella resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Alya felt like leaving. She doesn’t need this. She has everything she knows about the mystic arts from Doctor Strange. Who, by the way, still won’t allow her to have her flip phone or ancient artifact (the Japanese fan with wind powers.) 

“For full details, see my published works.” Lockhart advertised. Now Marcella really rolled her eyes. The teacher then attempted to stylishly take off his cloak. Then he freakin threw it to one of the schoolgirls. “Let me introduce you to my assistant, Professor Snape.” All the heads turned to see if the Professor was already there. Indeed he was. He stepped up to the stage. “He has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration. Now, I don’t want any of you youngsters to worry,” he said. 

_“As if anyone would worry for this twit,”_ Alya thought. 

“You’ll still have your Potions master when I’m through with him.”

Marcella leaned closer to her friend. “He seems awfully cocky.”

Alya mirrored her head position. “Snape will win anyway,” she whispered. “It’s not like this twat will ever beat Snape. You know, I’m willing to bet that all the books he wrote are fake and that he’s a trash wizard.”

Marcella whispered back, “I won’t take you up on that, but I know a few lovely young girls who would say otherwise.”

Through their talking, they almost missed Snape and Lockhart stepping up to each other before drawing their wands and quickly moving them to their sides. The two men then turned, walking five paces apart. They then struck different poses. Snape a defensive one while Gilderoy an offensive.

Before Lockhart could even say a spell, Severus exclaimed, “Expelliarmus!” The powerful spell actually knocked Gilderoy onto his back.

The blonde teacher seemed stunned for a moment, but then quickly got back to his senses. “An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape,” Lockhart declared as he walked towards the dark-haired wizard. “But if you don’t mind me saying, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do, and if I wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy.”

“Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor,” Snape remarked.

For a moment Lockhart looked at a loss for words. 

As Lockhart spoke, two particular Ravenclaw second-years elected to ignore him. “Do you want to leave?” Alya whispered to Marcella.

“I might, but I also want to see how this plays out,” the mousy brown-haired girl responded.

When Snape spoke, they decided to keep paying attention. They only managed to catch him saying, “We’ll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox. Might I suggest someone from my own house?” Snape’s arms became outstretched. “Malfoy, perhaps?”

As Harry walked onto the stage from the steps Draco pulled himself over the top to get on.

Lockhart wished the Boy Who Lived luck as he walked off the stage.

The two boys started off as the professors did. They walked up to each other. “Wands at the ready!” Lockhart instructed. They drew their wands. 

“Scared, Potter?” Draco asked him. Feeling smug about the entire thing.

“You wish,” sated Harry Cooley, completely unfazed.

The two boys then put their wands on their sides and walked five paces apart and took similar stances.

“On the country of three, cast your charms at your opponent,” Lockhart instructed. “ _Only_ to disarm,” he added pointedly. “We don’t want any accidents here.”

“Draco or Harry?” Marcella whispered to Alya. 

The dark-haired girl considered the two, taking into account what she’s seen from them in previous classes in castability and styles. “It could go on for a little while actually,” Alya notes softly.

Lockhart didn’t even get to three before Draco cast, “Enverte Statum!” Harry was knocked backward, flipping in the air. Gasps and murmurs could be heard by other students. Crabbe on the other hand laughed.

Harry got up, however, and seemed to be pissed, he cast, “Rictusempra!” A bolt of light made a whooshing sound as it traveled through the air and smacked into Draco. Making him go up in the air, spun horizontally and landed on his ass. Alya, along with other students chuckled.

He quickly got up as Lockhart stated, “I said disarm only!”

Draco yelled out, “Serpentsortia!” And a green snake appeared, slithering towards Harry.

Snape sought to take care of it, walking into the center stage saying, “Don’t move Potter, I’ll get rid of it for you.”

“Allow me, Professor Snape!” Called Lockhart. “Alarte Ascendare!” He cast the spell, but all it did was make the serpent go up into the air and fall back down.

Marcella rolled her eyes.

Harry looked to be intrigued by the snake as he walked towards it slowly. He started speaking in a tongue almost unrecognizable to Alya. She heard the whispered though. They were saying it was parseltongue. 

“Vipera evanesca,” Snape said. The spell burst the snake into flames.

All was silent, until a Hufflepuff asked, “What are you playing at?” The confused Harry looked at everyone’s troubled/shocked looks. Everyone except Alya, Hermione, Ron, and Marcella back away slowly. The Gryffindors take Harry back to their dorm while the Ravenclaws decide to leave and head to their dorm as well.

While in the dorm, Alya decides to change out of her robe for a while since there aren’t any more classes for the day. While she rummages through her wardrobe, Marcella spots something she hasn’t seen in Alya’s things before.

“What’s that?” The mousy brown haired girl asked. Her stomach lying on her bed and her hands holding her head.

“What’s what?” Alya asked. There were many different clothes that she could have been referring to, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she was talking about her garb of the mystic arts.

“That really light lavender almost kimono looking thing,” Marcella fried to describe it. So it was her mystic arts garb.

“Oh, this?” Alya pulled it out with its hanger.

“Yeah.” The girl got up to inspect it closer. She looked at it for a few minutes more, turning it over, feeling the fabric. But then she stopped. She turned towards her roommate, asking, “What is it?”

Alya quickly thought of a lie. “It was my mother’s… I don’t exactly know what its purpose is, but I like it… and it’s one of the few things I have of hers.” This was only a half-lie. Her mother is gone, and she does have some of her things. However, that was just jewelry and a pastel shawl.

“Oh,” said Marcella in a downbeat tone. “I’m sorry if I-“ she brought up, seeing Alya’s longing expression.

“No, no you’re good.”

“Cool.”

With the crisis averted, if there was one, to begin with, Alya placed her garb back into the wardrobe.

* * *

  
As the days passed by, one more person was petrified. As a result, students were given a stricter curfew.

They knew that Marcella could very well be petrified, but what about Alya? Could she be petrified? She’s a half-er. Although, maybe not? Maybe whatever’s petrifying them 

Really wanting to get to the bottom of this, the two girls ventured to the library.

* * *

Christmas rolled around. Marcella decided to stay while Alya went home. 

Steven has Alya practice some mystic arts with her artifact. All seems to be going well, but he could tell that something was on her mind. Before dinner, he pulled her aside.

“Are you doing okay? You seemed distracted,” he pointed out.

“I’m fine, but the kids at school, the muggle-born ones, are getting petrified, meaning frozen and stuck in a position of fear. Marcella chose to stay behind and—I don’t know, I just…”

“You’re worried,” he finished her sentence.

“She… also saw my robe. But she didn’t seem to know what it really was.”

Figuring out that she must have lied to her he muttered, “I knew you shouldn't have brought that with you.”

“I know, but I wanted to bring something that reminded me of here. You didn’t allow me to bring my pendant.”

“That necklace is a _weapon_.”

“So is this wand,” she said, holding up the piece of wood. “Besides, the charoite isn’t just a _weapon._ It’s a source of knowledge. The souls of Azarath are trapped in there, I can feel them. They talk to me.”

“Do you know why those souls are trapped in there?” He quizzed his adopted child.

“They were trapped in there in order for them to be safe, because, the person who put them there, had actually released the demon lord Trigon upon them. Their dimension was destroyed.”

“Good, good,” Strange praised. “Hey, you wrote down all that you remembered anyway in that notebook Wong sent you.”

“I know, but I felt like I needed more than a simple spellbook to remind me of home.”

Steven smiled at her. She’s sweet like that. Sometimes he wonders if she could have been put in Hufflepuff. Yet, according to Alya, the talking hat is never wrong.

“Come on,” Strange stated. “Let’s get something to eat.”

* * *

  
When she got back to Hogwarts, she noticed that Marcella wasn’t in their dorm. She thought that maybe the girl was out and about somewhere in the castle. Not worried, she picked up a book. One that she’s been meaning to read for a while now, _Huckleberry Finn._ Strange had her read _Tom Sawyer_ over the summer break and had gotten curious about its sequel. However, she still has to finish _Tuck Everlasting_ and _The Martian_. Oh well. She’ll find a way to finish them all.

  
  


She’s stayed up for hours and has finished _Tuck Everlasting,_ and gone through nearly half of _Huckleberry Finn._ The rest of that book and _The Martian_ will have to wait some other time. For now, she’s very tired and would like to go to sleep.

When she woke up, she realized that Marcella still wasn’t there. She got ready to head down to breakfast as normal, but there was a knock on her door. She opened it.

Looking around, she saw it was Flitwick, the head of the house.

“Oh, good morning, Professor Flitwick.” Alya then noticed the saddened look plastered on his face.

“Good morning, Alya… um.” It seemed like he didn’t want to tell her. “I’m sorry to bring this news to you, but… Marcella… has been petrified.”

The olive-skinned girl’s eyes widened with shock and fear. “When? Where?” Her voice was slightly panicked as she tried to keep herself calm.

“It was near the library,” the small man stated sadly.

“Can I see her?” She asked. She knew she was going to be late for breakfast, but seeing her friend would have been worth being late over.

Hesitantly, he agreed to let her go.

Her steps were quick as she rushed down the steps. Within a minute, she passed the great hall and right into the infirmary.

Madame Pomfrey walked around the room, checking over the petrified students. When she saw Alya the doctor went right to Marcella’s body.

The dark-haired girl wandered to the same spot and realized Flitwick was right. 

“How long has she been here?” Alya asked.

“About a day,” Madame Pomfrey told her.

With that in mind, Alya pieced together that she was in the library maybe twenty some odd hours ago. But what was she studying? Marcella doesn’t seem like the type to rip pages out of books, but maybe she did. The girl’s hands were open, so Alya checked her pockets, which were empty.

“Thank you, for letting me see her,” Alya stayed towards Pomfrey.

“Of course dear,” was all the doctor said as the student left the room.

Now with less of a hurry than when she went to the infirmary, she got into the mess hall. Thankfully people were still eating.

The girl sat down and ate. Her body sat facing the Slytherin table. Rarely did she look up from her food. When she did, however, her eyes met with the prince of Slytherin himself. It could just be harmless glances around the room that the two of them caught each other in, or Draco was actually staring at the Ravenclaw. As to why he would do this, she had no idea.

After breakfast, is Transfigurations and Herbology. Two classes she thoroughly enjoyed. Although, one was more book heavier than the other. Alya didn’t mind that though. Unlike some of the Gryffindors in her class, she actually took the time to read what was in the textbooks in her spare time. She was always ready for her classes. 

Yet, for these two classes, she found that her mind kept wandering over to thoughts about Marcella. What she was studying, and all that. Maybe during her spare time, she’ll venture to the library to hopefully figure this out. Madame Prince is a helpful person, especially when one keeps very quiet in the library.

When the break came, she wanted to leave, escape to the skies. She always found that to be relaxing.

The girl went into the shadows so no one would see her change into the falcon.

As she flew, she went around the outside of the courtyard and circled the towers of the school. Hopefully, she thought, no one spotted her. 

The rest of the day was spent in agony for Alya, even in her Ancient Runes class (which by the way has symbols she’s associated with the mystic arts and has seen those symbols in mystic textbooks). There’s no need to ask that professor for a textbook to take with her, as there are plenty in the library.

Now that it was her free time, she could venture down to the giant room filled with books.

When she got there, she saw Hermione down there. The two glanced at each other and silently waved as Alya passed by the Gryffindor.

“Excuse me, Madame Prince?” Alya came up to the librarian.

“Yes, Alya?” The librarian asked, looking up from her desk.

“Do you happen to know what book Marcella Smilovici last checked out?”

Madame Prince studied her for a moment, then said, “It was a book about magical creatures. _Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander. You can find it in the aisle to your right on along the fourth shelf.”

“Thank you.”

Alya turned towards the shelves, skimming the titles it took her only a minute or two to find the book. With this, she might be able to get ahead of her year for the Care of Magical Creatures class next year.

Looking at the table of contents, she found that the book was very well organized. There was a section for sea creatures, land creatures, and air creatures. Each section has other littler sections of their own.

There were things on bowtruckles, mermaids, thunderbirds, phoenix, Hippogriffs, kneazles, erumphants, a whole bunch of different dragons, and many other animals. None of which have the ability to petrify someone permanently.

Oh well. At least Marcella tried to get down to the bottom of this before it got to her.

However, Alya’s a muggle-born too. What if she gets petrified? Hell, what if Hermione gets petrified?

Deciding not to be in the library anymore, the dark-haired girl left the scene.

* * *

  
It’s been weeks, the month is February, and nothing has been done to keep kids from being petrified. Although, Sprout has been working on something with Mandrakes. She thinks that something in their leaves will cure the ones already petrified. Snape is working with her on this.

Aside from the classes she actually liked and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of, she felt like life had become a bit dull. A regular schedule was kept for a good chunk of a few more weeks before anything exciting happened. 

Alya found herself more and more fleeing into the sky. Her peregrine falcon form flying around the castle in the early mornings, and late evenings. She had stopped transforming in the middle of the day. What if someone saw her change during the day? Now that there were fewer students to occupy one’s time, someone would be bound to notice her transformations. 

* * *

It’s now getting close to the end of the year.

Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were supposed to have a game, but it was canceled due to Hermione and another student being petrified.

A few days later, word got around that a student was actually taken by the monster. 

Out of already noticing that Harry and Ron knew what was causing things and pretty much how to get down there, Alya decided to follow them. The dark-haired girl kept a large distance between her and them. What’s strange is that they went into the girl’s bathroom. Professor Lockhart was with them too. Either those boys are stupid, or they figured him out. Alya chose to believe the latter as Ron’s wand was pointed at him.

Potter spoke parseltongue and the sink post moved apart and turned into an entrance. The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets had revealed itself.

Lockhart was very nervous about the whole thing, in fact, he tried to go away. The two boys ended up pushing him in. The two boys jumped in after him. After a little while, she approached the door, or hole, really.

To not make a sound when she reached the ground, she turned into her bird form and flew in the direction she could tell Harry and the other two went. What seemed like a sewage system turned into a cave system.

She found Lockhart with Ron’s wand, aiming it at the two boys. “So, you first Mr. Potter, say goodbye to your memories,” she heard the professor say. Knowing that he was going to place a memory erase charm on him, Alya quickly changed back into her human form and called out, “Obliviate!” before he could.

The blonde man took a few steps backward before falling over. Both Ron and Harry turned to see their classmates.

“Alya?” Ron asked, a little surprised.

“Hey,” she greeted them.

“Were you following us?” asked Harry, wondering if she did, or if she found this place on her own. If she did find this place on her own, that would lead to her speaking parseltongue, which seemed unlikely.

“Yes. The both--er, three of you were coming down here without any backup,” she told them. “Besides, Lockhart is a shit wizard.” At that, Harry chuckled.

Suddenly, Lockhart awoke with a groan. “Hello,” he said. “Who are you?” He looked between all three kids.

The second years looked between each other.

“Oh, sweet it worked,” Alya stayed quietly.

“I’m Ron, that’s Alya, and that’s Harry,” Ron answered slowly.

“Really?” Asked Lockhart. “And um, who am I?”

“Oh, no one important,” Alya stayed as he hit him in the head with a rock. The boys looked at her. “What? He would have been doing more harm than good without any memory. He may be a terrible wizard, but at least with his memory comes hopefully useful spells.”

Before anything else could be done, the tunnel suddenly collapsed. It separated Harry from the other two.

“Harry!” Ron called, wondering where his friend was.

“Harry!” Alya joined in.

When the dust cleared and the rubble settled, Harry called, “Ron! Alya! Are you two okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Alya called back at a volume careful enough to not let the cave fall anymore.

“You two wait here! Try and shift the rocks so that we can come through, I’ll try and get Ginny,” the dark-haired Gryffindor stated before walking away.

“Okay!” The two on the other side stated.

They just stood there for a couple of seconds before Ron decided to cast the levitation charm. “Wingardium Levi-“

“Wait,” Alya interrupted. “I think it would be better if we started removing the rocks by hand. If we put a spell on them, then the whole thing might make more of the tunnel collapse.”

“And what about if that happens when we remove the rocks by hand?” The Gryffindor brought up.

“It’s more likely that it would happen if we use a spell, but if it does happen, then we just keep working on it.”

Silence befell the two as they worked at the task at hand. They started on the smaller rocks then worked their way up. Switching between the rocks in the middle and at the bottom.

“Hey, Ron?” Alya asked as she picked up a medium-sized rock.

“Yeah?” The ginger responded, picking up a rock and walking away from the pile.

“Something’s been sort of bothering me…” she placed the rock in her hands down “If Lockhart is-well, was a liar and a cheat, publishing books painting himself as a hero while making the actual hero forget, then why did Dumbledore hire him to be the defense against the dark arts teacher?”

“Beats me,” Ron said as he placed a rock down. “You’re a Ravenclaw, why don’t you figure it out?”

Alya was about to pick up a rock but stopped. “And therefore, Gryffindors are dumb?” 

“You know what I meant,” the ginger stated, going back to get another rock.

“I don’t know, maybe,” Alya stood there in thought. “Dumbledore had his suspicions about him, and the only way for him to figure that out is to put him in the hot seat that is teaching defense against the dark arts.”

“And there you go. See? you figured it out.”

“Do you know that to be the answer?”

“No.”

“Then why did you say it like that?”

“I don’t know.”

The two of them went back into silence as they got the rocks out of the way. Pretty soon, they got most of the rocks out of the way. 

“Okay,” said Alya stepping back. “I think we can use the spells now.”

Without a response to her words, both mages whipped out their wands, stating, “Wingardium leviosa!”

Pretty soon, all rocks were out of the way and Harry returned with Ginny and a Phoenix. Thinking that she knows who the bird is, she asked, “Whoa, is that Fawkes?” 

“Yeah,” Harry stated with a slight laugh.

“Okay, so, how are we getting out of here?” Ron questioned looking between the five of them.

“What if some of you get carried by Fawkes, and the rest gets carried by me?” Alya suggested, stepping back from the group.

“What do you mean carried? How is a human going to do that?” Ron asked, stepping closer to her slightly. Oh, how she wished she had a sling-ring.

Not saying another word, she turned into her bird form. The students' eyes widened as their peer turned into a peregrine falcon.

Ron woke Lockhart up and it was decided amongst the group that Ron and Ginny would take Alya while Hardy and Lockhart would take Fawkes.

As they went up and out of the catacombs, Lockhart yelled, “This is just like magic!”

When they were safely near the ground, Harry and Ron dropped down frost, as they were the second ones holding on. The two Gryffindors then helped the other two before Alya could turn back into a human.

“You can’t tell a single soul, alright?” Alya requested. “I already have enough people hunting and making fun of me as it is.”

The three Gryffindors looked between each other. “I promise,” said Ginny. The other boys followed in doing the same.

* * *

  
About a week later everyone who was petrified returned to normal with the help of Madame Pomfrey and Professor Sprout. Their mandrake juice was able to cure everyone.

Marcella was one of the first to be un-petrified. She showed up in her shared dorm with Alya and pestered her roommate with questions. All of which had to do with what happened while she was petrified. Alya gave a detailed description and only left a few parts out so as not to alert her roommate that she is a maledictus.

All gathered in the great hall for a big feast. Once everyone settled down Professor McGonagall caught everyone’s attention with a spoon and a glass. 

“Before we begin the feast,” began Dumbledore as he stood. “Let us have a round of applause for Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey, who’s mandrake juice has been so successfully administered to all who had been petrified. The room applauded.

“Also in light of recent events,” the headmaster continued. “As a school treat, all exams have been canceled.”

While most of the room cheered, including most of the Ravenclaws, (Marcella and Andy’s included), knowing that to protest would be a waste of time and took the win. The few who didn’t clap became disappointed, as they wasted most of their time studying.

All of a sudden, the door burst open to reveal the half-giant Hagrid. “Sorry I’m late,” he said before stepping closer into the room. “The owl that delivered my release papers got all lost and confused. Some ruddy bird called Erold.” The man then stopped in front of the golden trio. “I just want to say, that if it hadn’t been for you, Harry, and Ron, and Hermione ‘a course, I would uh-I’d still be you know where, so I’d just like to say, thanks.”

Harry got up to hug him. Then in the next instance, Dumbledore was clapping. Everyone else soon followed suit. Soon after, the headmaster allowed the mass of students to dig into their food.

The year had ended, and everyone packed their things for the summer. Marcella had vowed to Alya that she would come to visit her (in the London house of course.)


	3. Hogwarts year three part 1: During the summer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is when the story starts to get into it

It was the summer before her third year at Hogwarts. Marcella and Hermione were coming over to the London house for a few days. When they got there, they were surprised to find that the building they walked passed multiple times while in London with the weird window was actually Alya’s home.

Unlike the New York Sanctum Sanctorum, the London Sanctum doesn’t have all of its artifacts on display on the second floor. After the attacks of Dormammu’s followers, it was decided that a vast majority would be hidden away in a secret room. A room which only the protector of the Sanctum knows. The actual protector is Wong, but that honor will be bestowed upon Alya when she’s old enough.

Curious, the other Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor went to the artifacts that were seemingly on display.

“Alya, what are these?” asked Hermione. “I’ve never read about anything remotely similar… what did you say your father did?” The Gryffindor turned to meet her friend’s gaze.

“He was a surgeon, a very successful and rich one, in fact,” Alya answered as she walked along the artifacts.

“What does he do now then?” asked Marcella, her Liverpool accent becoming apparent in the presence of two Londoners. “Is he so rich that he doesn’t have to work?”

Alya thought a little before answering, “Yeah, you could say that.” That technically is what Doctor Strange is doing. Being a master of the mystic arts isn’t a paying job.

The actual plan for the day was to meet up at Alya’s home and then go out into the city. Be muggles for a day. Maybe visit Westminster Abbey, the SEA LIFE Centre London Aquarium, and maybe the British Museum.

First up, the SEA LIFE Centre London Aquarium. The first exhibit they went to see was the coral kingdom exhibit. Lots of CLown fish, Regal Tangs, and Anablebs resided there. There were some damselfish, and Angelfish as well, along with many others. Alya ended up taking pictures of most of the fish there, due to her bringing a muggle camera.

The next thing on their list to do at the aquarium is seeing the baby penguins. They were too adorable for Alya to resist taking pictures of them.

After that, was the Radical Rays exhibit. The trio decided to skip the rainforest adventure due to all the spiders last year. But the ray exhibit was extra cool because they got to touch them.

Now that they had seen all that they wanted to see, it was time to leave the building. Maybe they’ll stop into the gift shop first.

Upon going into the shop of gifts, the one went right to the jewelry, another to the plushies, and another to the trinkets. The three of them ended up buying (don’t worry, they have pounds with them) matching bracelets, a small penguin stuffed animal and a set of four stone turtles. Each of those turtles was colored to represent the four elements. One is blue, one is green, one is bronze, and one is grey.

The next thing the girls decided to do was get some fish ‘n chips. They had to go to a small restaurant that was really a bar that served food in order to get some. Don’t worry, they didn’t consume any alcohol.

On their way back to Alya’s house, Alya couldn’t help but feel that someone was watching them. Not wanting to let the other two worry or panic, she kept it to herself while also keeping an eye out. 

When they were starting to get closer to her home, Marcella stopped the other two. “What is it?” Hermione questioned.

The mousy brown-haired Ravenclaw jerked her head to the side. The two girls followed its line to find Draco Malfoy. Quickly, they turned their heads forward.

“What is he doing here?” Granger questioned.

“I don’t know and I don’t like it,” Alya stated. “He’s been following us for the past two miles. I didn’t want to worry you guys.”

“What?” asked Marcella in shock. “You mean to tell me that he’s been following us for two miles?”

“Yeah, but I have a way of getting rid of him,” Alya stated. She then pulled out her sling ring and did a small circular motion with her hands.

“What are you doing?” asked Hermione. Caution and slight worry was written on her face.

“Look back at him,” Alya said. They did. “I’m creating a small portal for him to fall into.” A small golden circle surrounded the Slytherin and he fell.

“And then what?” asked Marcella. The three girls resuming their walk back to Alya's abode.

“He’ll keep falling until I bring him out,” The dark-haired witch answered her friend.

“And how will that help us?” asked Hermione. 

“He won’t know the way to the Sanctuary. And when we’re done talking, I’ll send him back to that spot over there.” She didn’t even have to look back to tell the girls where he’ll be put.

Unsure, but trusting their friend, Hermione and Marcella left it at that. 

When they got back, they stored their goods in with their bags before standing in the hall. “Alright,” Alya breathed out. “I guess now’s a good time as any to bring him out of the falling abyss.” She did the same move with her hands along with the same golden trinket that she used to put Draco into the portal. 

The blonde fell to the ground on his stomach. For lack of a better word, he looked pissed. “I have been _falling_ for thirty minutes!”

“Yes,” Alya said. “Yes, you have.”

Quickly, the Slytherin got up. “Are you making fun of me mudblood?” His pace quickened as he moved to grab her. She apparated out of his way.

“Let’s sit, shall we?” she asked. None of them got a chance to respond as Alya transported the group to a large space with two couches separated by a long coffee table. Books lined the walls and a piano sat in the corner.

Alya, Hermione, and Marcella sat on one couch (in that order), while Draco sat on the other. Confused, everyone but Alya looked at their surroundings.

“How did you do that without apparating?” Hermione questioned, feeling slightly dizzy.

“I’ll tell you at some point,” the dark-haired and olive-skinned Ravenclaw stated. “Now, Draco, why were you following us?”

“Like I would tell you, you filthy mudblood,” Draco fired at her.

Alya sighed. “And there’s the insults… I’m a half-blood by the way.”

“What is this place?” the blonde questioned.

“Like I would tell you, nasty pureblood,” the raven fired back.

The blonde smirked. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Alya saw Wong come into the room. “Alya, guys,” he acknowledged as he moved through the space.

“Who was that?” asked Draco, jerking his head behind him.

“None of your concern,” the olive-skinned Ravenclaw states defensively. “But seriously, answer my question.”

“Only if you answer mine first.”

Alya scoffed before smiling slightly, saying, “Fine… this is the London Sanctuary. It houses some of the most ancient and magical weapons and artifacts. Myself and the man you just saw, live here, to keep this place safe… now, why were you following us?” She asked as a cup of hot tea suddenly appeared in her hands. The teapot sitting on the table. The miniplate standing inches away. Draco, Marcella, and Hermione all shared a weird look between them as Alya took a sip. They’ve never seen this kind of magic.

“I was only following you out of sheer interest,” he said, leaning forward, resting his arms on his thighs. “My family had to cross… into the muggle world in order to get something. I happened to come across the three of you and just decided to follow.”

“Oh my god, your poor mother.” Alya pinched the bridge of her nose. “She must be worried sick.” Draco sighed. “Alright, you know enough. I am going to send you back.”

Just as the boy stood up, a portal with a golden ring around it appeared in front and approached him rapidly. “I still have questions-“ He took a few steps forward, but he was aiming to get to Alya. When he saw he was back on the streets he yelled, “Alya!” It took him a couple of seconds, but he gave up. 

In no time at all, his mother found him. “There you are, Draco, I’ve been worried sick.”

* * *

“Alya, is all the things you’ve said true?” asked Hermione after a few seconds of the Slytherin disappearing. The Ravenclaw in question looked at the Gryffindor next to her.

“Yes,” Alya replied. “Now, I don’t know if Draco would do this, but I want you guys to keep this place a secret.” The girl’s hands were curled up on her thighs as she spoke. 

If Alya really is a half-blood witch, and her adopted is a muggle, then that means that one of her parents had magical blood. And if this place is what she says it is, then does that mean that Wong is a wizard? If her father did buy these things then did he know about magic before his child got an acceptance letter to Hogwarts? Did he adopt her knowing that she could do magic?

Hermione and Marcella glanced at each other before agreeing, “Of course.” “Yeah, we’ll keep the secret.” The olive-skinned girl exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.”

* * *

It’s been a month since that incident. They are a day away from school. As Alya was packing her things, her lavender robe of the mystic arts included, Wong, came knocking on her door.

“Come in,” Alya called. The man came in with her necklace in hand. 

“Something tells me you’re going to need this, this year,” he told her.

The necklace he spoke of is a necklace with a single pendant. An intricate silver design of a raven encased a charoite gem. That gem holds the knowledge and magic of the once-great realm of Azarath. This necklace is said to encase the very destroyed realm itself and that the knowledge and magic come from the girl who accidentally unleashed the demon lord Trigon upon the people. Whether that is true or not, Alya can’t really tell. Yet, the voice that speaks to her sounds like a woman’s, though echo and many in number. Either which way, the necklace chose her to be its guardian. Doctor Strange didn’t allow her to have it for her first two years at Hogwarts, but after everything that happened last year with the petrification, he wanted her to be the safest she can be.


	4. Hogwarts Year Three Part 2: on the way

When Alya and Marcella boarded the train to Hogwarts, they found a booth and went in. What no one was expecting, were the dementors. They stopped the train. The windows became frozen. The air held an eerie feeling. A dark shadow floated past them and Alya wondered if it was one of the shadow people, fearing the worst, she clutched her necklace. But the shadow wasn’t here for her, or the necklace. It went right by their cabin.

Only a few minutes later, a bright light shined brightly through the darkness, and the shadow was pushed back. It was forced out of the train. Within a few minutes, the train resumed its course. 

When the girls got to the carriages, Marcella was surprised to find that they were pulling themselves. That’s not what Alya saw, however. What she saw was a black Pegasus-like creature. She had read about them last year in the library when she skimmed through Newt Scamander’s book to see if any of the creatures in there could have the power to petrify. According to Scamander, these creatures can only be seen by people who’ve seen death. Well, Alya has seen death.

“You don’t see them?” Alya asked her friend.

“No,” admitted Marcella. “And I’m beginning to feel worried about you,” she stated as she stepped into the carriage.

“Well, you shouldn’t be,” the dark-haired girl replied, following her friend.

All of a sudden, the duo was joined by a certain blonde Slytherin. He sat across from the other two, mirroring the day Alya caught him spying.

“Evening Ravens,” was his opening line.

Alya half scoffed and half laughed. “What?” She retorted. “No mudblood insults?”

“I’m not trying to make an enemy of you,” Draco reluctantly confesses. “Or you,” he stated towards Marcella. “Besides, I don’t think I would want to get on your bad side, considering the magic you possess that no one here has.” He refers to when she made them, her included go from standing in a hall to sitting on couches. Not to mention the teacup and pot that came out of nowhere, and the weird portal thing.

“You would rather make an enemy out of Hermione then?” Marcella questioned.

“Well she _is_ a Gryffindor,” the blonde stated. The last word said with a slight hint of hatred. A moment of silence fell on the group. Alya looked away from the two of them, studying the darkness. Then, “Did you hear that Harry Potter fainted?”

With as little interest in the subject as she could possibly show, Marcella asked, “Really?” Just as the Slytherin was about to elaborate, the mousy brown-haired Ravenclaw stopped him right there. “You do realize that neither of us have any interest in gossiping about Harry, right?” To that, Draco smiled.

“Hey, Draco?” asked Alya. She turned to face him.

“Yes?” He answered.

“I don’t think you would be here unless you didn’t want something, so before I ask you what that something is, I need for you to promise me something.” Her eyes never broke from his.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Promise me, you will never tell of the Sanctuary.”

Draco hesitates before agreeing. “I promise.”

“Good, now what are you really here for?”

He looked between the two of them, before checking over his shoulder and glancing passed the girls. “I was just meaning to get away from Crabbe and Goyle.”

Alya stifled a laugh while Marcella didn’t even try. “Seriously?” Asked the mousy haired raven. “The big bad ring leader, the _prince_ on Slytherin wanted to get away from his faithful and loyal followers?”

“Sometimes I can’t stand those idiots,” the blonde confessed.

“Well, they are kind of dense,” Alya thought out loud.

The rest of the carriage ride was filled with silence, out of not knowing what to talk about. But when they got out of the carriage and were close to the Hogwarts doors, Draco whispered in Alya’s ear, “I also know about the falcon, but don’t worry, I won’t let that slip out either.”

The girl froze, slightly, but kept a steady and even walking pace right to her seat at the Ravenclaw table. The new first years were called up and sorted before a few announcements by Dumbledore was made. The first was that there was a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The second was that Hagrid would be taking the previous teacher’s place in Care for Magical Creatures. The third announcement was the dementors would be hovering around Hogwarts, as the criminal Sirius Black was at large.

Alya wasn’t exactly paying attention though. She was too busy thinking about how Draco could know about her Maledictus form. He must have seen her at some point during the past two years as she changed. She thought she was being so careful. But apparently, not careful enough.


	5. Hogwarts Year Three Part 3: Intro Into the Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lupin!!

They were finally here for their third year. For some reason, Alya woke up before the sun was even out. Wanting to view it peaking over the horizon, she opened the window quietly so as not to wake Marcella. When she finally got it open, she turned herself into a peregrine falcon and flew out, carefully nudging the window closed.

It was still slightly dark out, so she couldn’t see much, but as she flew, she decided to fly all around the castle. The girl dove, only opening her wings back up before she could hit the centerpiece of the courtyard. She veered right ever so slightly and made her way to below the bridge where the chamber of secrets could be reached. Then, she flew by the mess hall and around her house’s tower. The bird then turned herself back into a girl and sat at the top, ready to watch the sunrise.

She watched as the golden orb peaches out of the forest and the mountains. It’s light making everything brighter. She waited until the sun was at least all the way over the horizon to leave her perch.

* * *

Today is the start of her new year. As far as she knows, only six students know her secrets. Harry, Ron, and Ginny all know that she at least can turn into a bird. They found that out when she flew Ginny and Ron out of that casm. Harry and Lockhart took Fawkes. Draco, Hermione, and Marcella all know about the Sanctuary. That’s enough people who know about her. She doesn’t need the entire wizarding world learning about her and the ancient mystic arts.

Her first class was on divination. She found the teacher odd, but the class and what she was teaching was found to be quite interesting. Especially since Hermione doesn’t buy it and Harry was given a death prophecy.

Her second class, Care for Magical creatures, was even more interesting. They got to use those strange books that will snap at you and eat their own pages. 

The usual taunts spouted from Draco’s mouth and aimed its way towards the golden trio. None of his hits seemed to land, however.

Then, Hagrid brought out a hippogriff. It stood tall and majestic with its silvery-grey feathers. Everyone else found it intimidating, while Alya found it to be a very awesome creature. 

When the half-giant asked if anyone wanted to say hello, everyone but Harry and Alya backed away. However, Hagrid chose Harry to do this.

The half-giant instructed the boy to bow and to see if the creature bowed back, which he did. From then on, the hippogriff bowed. Next, Harry was allowed to touch him. After that, Harry was granted permission to ride it. The Boy Who Lived and that magnificent creature took off, only to return several minutes later.

Unsurprisingly, Draco went up to Buckbeak and insulted him. That was only met with a forearm struck to the wrist. The poor bastard had to be taken to the infirmary.

The next three classes for the day were Charms, Potions, and Transfigurations; three classes that will always be constant in her time here at Hogwarts. 

The next day, however, was a double class of Defense Against the Dark Arts, with the new Professor Lupin. 

When they got there, they found the desks all pushed to the side and a wardrobe standing in the middle of the room. The furniture shook violently. The only thing Alya could think to be in a sort of casing such as that would have to be a boggart. 

_“Oh boy,”_ she thought. _“Wouldn’t this be a fun class? A quarter of the entire grade will get to see what everyone is afraid of.”_

“Intriguing, isn’t it?” Lupin rhetorically asked the class from behind them. “Would anyone like to venture a guess, as to what is inside?”

“A boggart,” Alya guessed. 

“Very good, Miss Cortez,” Lupin praised, walking towards the wardrobe. “Now, can anyone tell me what a boggart looks like?”

“No one knows,” Hermione answered. “Boggarts are shapeshifters.” Alya stopped listening to her after that.

“Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart,” said the professor who now stood right next to the shaking wardrobe. “Let’s practice it now.” Students got their wands out. “Without wands, please. Repeat after me, riddikulus.”

“Ridiculous,” the crowd of students all said in unison. 

“Very good, now a little louder, and very clear. Listen. Riddikulus!”

“Riddikulus.”

Alya heard Draco say, “This class is riddikulus.” She fought the urge to roll her eyes.

“Very good,” the professor praised. “Well so much for the easy part. You see the incantation is not enough. What really finishes a boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing. Let me explain.” He then searched through the sea of students for a volunteer. “Uh, Neville.” Everyone turned to see his slightly scared face. “Come on,” Lupin quietly urged. “Hello,” he said to the boy, noting his nervousness. 

As soon as the boy was close enough to him, the teacher asked, “Neville, what frightens you the most?”

The Gryffindor mumbled something no one could hear. “Sorry?” Lupin wanted a louder response.

“Professor Snape,” Longbottom said louder.

The other students laughed while Alya just snickered. Lupin bit back one of his own as he repeated the boy’s answer. “And I believe you live with your grandmother,” he added. 

“Yes, but I don’t want that boggart to turn into her either,” Neville admitted.

Lupin turned towards the wardrobe as it shook again before turning back to Neville, “No I don’t think it will. Now, I want you to picture her clothes, only her clothes, very clearly in your mind.”

Neville imagined them and thought out loud, “She carries a red handbag.”

Lupin shook his head slightly. “We don’t need to hear. As long as you see it, we’ll see it.” The man then walked towards the student. “Now when I open that wardrobe, here’s what I want you to do.” He leaned in closer to whisper, “Imagine Professor Snape in your grandmother’s clothes.” He then leaned away, asking, “Can you do that?” Neville nodded. “Alright. Wand at the ready!” He called getting his own wand out. He then counted the seconds down until the knob of the cupboard slowly opened.

The boggart came out as Snape and steadily walked towards him. “Riddikulus!” Longbottom cast. The boggart stepped back as its clothes changed from black long fabric to the clothes of an old woman. All of the class laughed, including Lupin.

“Wonderful, Neville!” The teacher praised. As he walked towards the gramophone in the room. “To the back Neville. Everyone form a line!” He then went to play something on the muggle device with horns. It sounded a bit jazzy.

Everyone formed a messy line. Draco’s goons shoved people out of the way, however. First up, was Ron. His fear, unsurprisingly, is spiders. Another student’s was a snake. For Marcella, it was a clown. On and on it went until it came to be Alya’s turn. For her, the boggart changed into a man. He said something along the lines of, “You mutant scum,” before Alya charmed it to say gibberish words. Like all the other times the students did their riddikulus charms, everyone else laughed. 

When she was going to the back of the line, Draco taunted quietly as she passed, “Are you afraid of a muggle?” That question was only met with the middle finger.

When it was Harry’s turn, the boggart changed into a dementor. The class went silent as Harry just froze. Quickly, Lupin stepped in front of him. Curiously, the boggart changed into the moon. Once Lupin said the charm, however, it turned into a deflating balloon, flying all awry across the room. Children ducked as it seemed to be aiming for their heads. Lupin forced it back into the wardrobe.

“Sorry about that, everyone,” he said. “Let’s continue with the lesson now shall we?”

* * *

Towards the end of class, Lupin called both Alya and Harry to his office separately. First to go in was Alya.

“You wanted to see me, Professor?” Was her opening line as she stepped in. 

“Ah, Alya, yes come in,” stated Lupin as he organized his things. He then sat at his desk. “I wanted to talk to you about that man the boggart changed into.”

Suddenly fearing for her life she froze slightly. Lupin continued. “He called you a mutant.”

“Y-yes, he did,” Alya confirmed.

“Do you know why he called you that?” The teacher asked. He didn’t get an answer. “Because it’s my understanding that muggles who don’t know magic existed call people with magical abilities mutants.”

Alya studied the floor for a minute, deciding what to do, should she tell him that she’s a maledictus? Should she choose to keep her secret? If she tells him, would he tell the authorities? Or keep it a secret?

She raised her head to look at Lupin, reaching her decision. “Yes, I do actually,” she said quietly. He waited for her to continue. “I’m a Maledictus.” 

Lupin only nodded. “Well then, good thing you told me. I guess it’s only right that I tell you that _I_ am a werewolf,” he said sort of confidently.

Alya’s eyes lit up, as she thought, _“so that’s why he’s afraid of the moon_ . _”_ While asking out loud. “Really?” 

“Yes, yes I am.” 

She couldn’t but back the smile. He is a werewolf. This means that he, to some extent knows what she’s going through.

“You’d better go along now,” Lupin stated. “Don’t want you to miss your break.” With that, she left class.

On her way out of the room, she found Harry waiting in one of the desks below the office. “You can go in now, Harry,” she told him. Quickly, the boy went up the steps.

As she made her way to the courtyard, she found Malfoy loudly talking to some Slytherin friends about her. “Did you see what her boggart turned into? I swear it looked like a muggle.”

As she passed by them, Draco judged, “It was probably her abusive father.”

 _“How dare he,”_ Alya thought. She didn’t even apparate. The girl was standing right next to him. Draco flinched. Alya looked pissed. No one talks about Doctor Strange or about her life like that. “Don’t judge me, unless you have experienced what I went through, and cried as many tears as I have! Until then, back off,” she started walking away. “Because you have no idea.”


	6. Hogwarts Year Three Part 4: Dementor attack!

A week or so afterward, it was announced that third years would be going to Hogsmead and could on a regular basis. Most people, in their third year, Marcella included, went. Some, like Alya and Harry, didn’t go. Harry didn’t go because he couldn’t. His legal guardians didn’t sign the forms. Alya could have gone, she really could. Stephen did sign the forms, but Alya chose not to go this time. Besides, she could experience it as a bird. As she flew in and around, she found her friends having the grandest time. After she had enough, she flew back to Hogwarts. 

* * *

A few days later, rumor had it that Sirius Black came into Hogwarts and slashed at the Fat Lady’s paintings. Alya, however, thought it was a certain werewolf. She won’t say anything though.

When it was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts, she found that Snape was teaching the class instead. Lupin, it seemed was out. There was a full moon last night. The class was about werewolves. Alya couldn’t help but wonder if Snape knows about Lupin’s condition. But what she found interesting in the class was that he only asked what the difference between an animagus and a werewolf. There was no mention of maledicti or metamorphmagi. Perhaps he was just keeping the class focused on werewolves.

* * *

A full month later, the holidays had arrived and left. Alya got permission from Stephen and Wong to stay in the castle this Christmas. The grounds and the forest really did look so beautiful under the snow.

One fine crisp morning, when the break was drawing to a close, Alya found herself venturing out a little further than realized. It was after any classes would be going on, so she didn’t really care.

However, on this day, she seemed to have encountered a small swarm of dementors. Quickly she hid, not wanting to disturb them. 

Now in this spot and position, she could barely see them. Wanting to see more, she shifted a little bit. Her foot moved slightly to the right, and onto a twig. The very noise of the stick alerting the shadows to her presence. Quickly, she backed up, but only succeeded in tripping on her own feet.

The dementors were so close. She could see why Harry was afraid of them. When they got too close, they started sucking on her memories. Happy ones seemed to almost leave her, while the bad ones seemed to become more prominent in her mind. Memories of a childhood she pushed deep down had suddenly come back to the surface. Visions of her mother and father dying at the hands of the man she saw the boggart changed into. She was starting to re-experience the pain and loneliness that came with the three years that followed her capture.

All of a sudden, her charoite necklace glowed. “Use the bird,” it whispered. 

Alya clutched the pendant, somehow knowing exactly what to do. She cast her spell calling out, “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” From the necklace sprung out a white bird that chased away the dementors. She watched in awe as soon all of them were gone. Wong was right, she was going to need her pendant this year.

Alya was about to leave when she saw someone out of the corner of her eyes. She turned to them with her wand at the ready. Her other hand still clutching her pendant. Yet, it wasn’t anyone of any threat to her. It was just Lupin.

“Afternoon Professor,” she greeted, earning a nod in return.

The girl then decided to resume her course when Lupin spoke. “Are you alright, Miss Cortez?”

She turned to meet his gaze. “I’m quite alright, thank you.” Cortez was about to re-resume her course when she stopped to add, “Just a little shaken up is all.”

“Then allow me to walk you back,” the Professor offered. The girl smiled and allowed him to walk with her. They strode through the forest in comfortable silence before Lupin spoke again. “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen that spell before. It looked like a Patronus charm.” Alya smiled slightly, having researched that charm. Apparently, only powerful wizards can conjure it. “But the words you called were not the words for that spell.”

Knowing exactly what he was talking about, and unwilling to play dumb, she said, “It came from my pendant. The magic, I mean.” He stayed silent, meaning for her to continue talking. “This gem holds a lot of secrets, and it bestowed itself onto me to be its guardian. I don’t know how, or why, but I feel a certain calling to it.”

“Interesting, and what is it called?” 

“It’s called the Charoite gem of Azarath.”

Lupin hummed. “Don’t think I’ve heard of it.”

“It’s a very ancient artifact, I would be surprised if someone had.”

By this time, they had reached the grounds of the castle. The two said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

During her downtime, Alya’s mind kept wandering to her pendant. Now that she’s used it, she wonders if the forces of Trigon would try to take it from her if the rumors about his daughter being trapped in there as well are true. Even so, the gemstone feels like an extension of herself. Whenever she has it on, it is as if she’s whole. Maybe, and just maybe (she’s going off on a limb here), but maybe the reason why she feels so connected to the pendant and why the gem chose her to be its guardian is that she is the reincarnation of the other part of Trigon’s daughter’s soul. The other half being trapped in the gem. 

She’s scared. What if they come for her at Hogwarts? What if she’s not able to save everyone? What if people die because of her? What if they manage to gank her during the summer? Would her friends even look? Never mind, of course, they would, they’re very reliable and would do something if she at least went missing.

Something to sleep on, she supposed.

That night, Alya kept tossing and turning but never waking. By the time it was morning, and a time she would normally be up, she was still asleep. When Marcella woke up by her own accord, (a rarity this year. Usually, Alya would have to wake her up so that she doesn’t miss breakfast.), Alya was still asleep.

When the mousy-brown haired girl tried to wake her, she was met by a purple force field, keeping her from laying a hand on her friend. Confused, she tried again. The force field still held, even when she pushed down hard. Starting to get a little scared, she called in Flitwick and Pomfrey.

Neither of them could wake her up either. Pomfrey decided to move her to the infirmary until further notice.

* * *

During the three days that Alya spent asleep in the infirmary, she receive many visits from Marcella. Lupin was a regular visitor too. One day, she got a visit from the golden trio. They wanted to see for themselves what was going on. Even stranger was that one day, for a very brief period of time, Alya got a visit from Draco Malfoy when no one else but Pomfrey was present.

After those days had gone by, Alya had never woken up. An owl was sent to Doctor Strange about this. The owl was sent back saying that he would come as quick as he could. That, meaning, almost seven hours.

Dumbledore and Flitwick met him on the entrance steps. “Afternoon Doctor Strange,” Dumbledore greeted.

“Afternoon. Where is the infirmary? I’d like to tend to my daughter,” the American got right to the point.

“Of course, follow me,” Flitwick told as he turned around to go to the man’s destination.

When they got there, they saw Pomfrey checking Alya’s pulse and a student with mousy-brown hair sitting in a chair next to the sleeping child.

“How is Miss Cortez, Madame Pomfrey?” asked Dumbledore. His hands concealed in his joined sleeves.

“Her mind seems to be calm now,” Pomfrey informed, “But just an hour ago, she was thrashing about. It’s almost as if she’s trapped in a very, very long nightmare.”

Carefully, Stephen touched his fingertips to Alya’s forehead. Or at least, tried to. The purple barrier was still protecting her. _“No doubt the gem’s magic,”_ he thought.

He tried again, this time, pressing harder onto the thin protective surface. He managed to breach it slightly but was met with an onslaught of her nightmares and bad memories. That’s what she was experiencing. That was the reason for her thrashing about.

“I know what’s wrong,” Doctor Strange told the three who were in the room. “She _is_ having a very long nightmare. It’s based off and mixed in with horrible memories she gained as a child before I adopted her.”

It was at this moment that Lupin walked in. He heard every word Strange had said. “You must be Alya’s father.” Stephen turned to meet him.

“Doctor Stephen Strange,” her father introduced himself, holding out his hand.

“Professor Remus Lupin,” the wizard stated as he shook the hand that was offered. “Do you have any inclination as to why she hasn’t woken up yet, or why we can’t wake her up?”

“It seems that she trapped herself in a maze of nightmares and horrible memories. All of which she has to bring herself out of. All we have to do is sit and wait. She’ll wake up when she’s made it out of her maze.”

“Sir, I think there’s something you should know,” Marcella said to Strange.

The black-haired man turned around to see a girl. His eyes squinted slightly, “Marcella right?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “Anyway, did you notice the strange—er, weird black ghosts flying around?”

“Yes. Why?” 

“Well, she told me that she had an encounter with them but was able to escape. They’re called dementors, sir. They suck out a person’s soul. In the process, it also partly feeds on the happy memories and leaves the painfully unpleasant ones behind. If she didn’t do whatever she did, her soul would be gone and she would have been left in a persistent vegetative state. Maybe it’s because of the dementors that she’s in this dream state now.” Strange silently thanked her for using muggle medical terms.

It was at that point in which Dumbledore and Flitwick excuse themselves. This is the first time they have gone after a student, but in all fairness, she did walk off the grounds. Mayhaps Dumbledore will have to negotiate the diameter the dementors are forbidden to go into.

“You know, I don’t recall teaching you about them,” stated Lupin. 

“Oh, uh, well, I decided to read about them in the library, since they’ll be here for an extended period of time.” At that answer she gave, both Strange and Lupin smiled a bit. This is why she’s a Ravenclaw.

As the day went by, Marcella had to go back to class, and Lupin had to go back to teaching. Strange was offered a chair by the doctor, but he declined, saying that he’s fine standing. When he was tired though, he took to floating in a sitting position. Madame Pomfrey wondered how he was considered a muggle. 

The golden trio visited during lunch.

“How is she?” Came a feminine voice. Strange turned to see two boys and one girl. From what Alya has described three certain Gryffindors, these three standing in front of him seemed to be them. He guessed that the girl who just spoke was Hermione.

“Her condition has remained the same all day,” Strange informed. “Whatever she’s seeing in her dreams now, isn’t as horrifying as what she would see when thrashing about.”

“And what would she see?” The ginger boy who Strange assumes to be Ron spoke.

“Her tale as a young child is similar in a few ways to Harry Potter’s,” Strange notes, fully aware that the Boy Who Lived was standing in front of him.

“If I may, sir,” Harry spoke up. “What similarities?”

“It isn’t my place to say,” the man stated. “It’s her life, but if you ask her, I’m sure she’ll tell you.” Strange thought about it further before saying, “Reluctantly, though.”

“I see,” was all the boy with the glasses said.

“Harry,” Hermione voices gently. “Perhaps we should get some lunch.” The other two boys turned to see Lupin leaning against the door frame. His arms folded

As soon as the trio left, Lupin approached the doctor, arms hanging by his side. “You seem like a very invested teacher,” Strange noticed.

“Yes, well, I was the one who found her after her attack,” Lupin revealed.

“Mayhaps I should thank you then, for escorting her back.”

“There’s really no need Doctor,” the brown-haired male stated, stopping his steps and recording his arms. “There is something I’ve been meaning to ask, however… do the words Azarath Metrion Zinthos mean anything to you?” At the very mention of those words, Alya’s pendant flowed a dark purple.

“So she did use it,” Strange muttered.

“The pendant?” Lupin guessed. Upon seeing Strange’s slightly confused look, he voiced, “She spoke briefly about it to me on our way back to the castle grounds.”

“Yes, well, the spell... It goes with a type of very ancient magic. All one would have to do is speak those words. As long as the intentions were clear in their minds, the spell would work.”

“Interesting,” Lupin thought out loud.

All of a sudden, Alya started thrashing about as if her hands were tied, and she started gulping as if there wasn’t any air in the room.

Quickly, the two men and Madame Pomfrey rush to her aid, trying to do whatever they can. Which wasn’t much, by the way. They were just making sure that she stayed on the bed, didn’t hurt herself and monitored her vital signs.

“Her heart rate is speeding up,” stated Doctor Strange. In fact, her heart rate was beginning to be so fast that he wondered if she would make it.

But then, her eyes shot open. She sat up with a start, screaming. The three grownups immediately stopped what they were doing. 

Strange went back to Alya, holding her arms to steady her. “Alya?” He asked. “Alya can you hear me?”

Between the staggered breaths, she recognized his voice. She had to blink the tears away. “S-Stephen?” Her blurred vision became clearer. The man standing before her indeed was Stephen Strange. The other two in the room noticed that she didn’t say, dad.

“I’m here Alya,” her father embraced her. “I’m here.” He was hugged back and held onto tightly. The man could tell that Alya felt if she let go, he would disappear.

Both Pomfrey and Lupin decided to give them space but didn’t leave the room.

Out of the corner of her eyes, the girl saw Draco enter the room with books in hand ready to go to class. When he saw her, he dropped them and ran out. She didn’t care. All she wanted to do was hang onto her father.

She was the one to break the hug. 

“What did you see?” Strange asked. Unbenounced to either of them, Draco re-entered with Marcella and the golden trio.

“All of it.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “My parents’ murder, the awful treatment of the man who captured me for three years. The cages, the circus, the water tanks.” At those last words, her voice broke. “It looped too.”

Alya looked to her right and saw her classmates. “Hey guys,” she said sort of gently.

“Hey,” said Marcella, walking you to her roommate. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Y-yeah,” the dark-haired Ravenclaw stated. She then got out of the bed, keeping a hand on the mattress to make sure that she didn't fall. “What class is it?” 

“Are you sure you want to go to class?” asked Stephen, wearing a worried facial expression.

“Yeah. I need a distraction from this.” 

“Oh-okay,” stated Marcella, realizing that she can’t convince Alya otherwise. “Let me get your stuff.”

The rest of the day went by as if she was never in that dream-like state in the first place. With her awake, Stephen chose to leave. But now, it feels like people are walking around eggshells with Alya, and she hates it.


	7. Hogwarts Year Three part 5: walks in the woods, and Sirius Black

A few weeks later, the entire school watched the quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff in a storm. A really dreadful storm. Alya couldn’t tell if it was raining, or if the raindrops were actually tiny slices of hail. The snitch had gotten so far away that both seekers ended up going higher into the sky. So high that the seeker for Hufflepuff fell out of the sky due to a lightning strike. Only minutes later, did Harry come falling out of the sky. This time, it wasn’t due to lighting. dementors had overstepped their reach. After Dumbledore stopped his fall, the game was canceled.

Shortly after Harry woke up from the infirmary, Alya, Lupin and himself went on a walk in the woods. Ferns were everywhere, and the trees stood tall. Lupin was the one who invited the Raven to come. It was usually just Harry and him, but he felt that she could come along too. For the exact reason, she did not know.

“I’m sorry to hear about your broomstick Harry,” Lupin told him. The price of wood crashed into and was smashed by the Whomping Willow. It flew into the blasted tree when Harry fell from it. “Is there no chance of fixing it?”

“No,” Harry said dejectedly. 

“And how are you doing, Alya?” Lupin asked the Ravenclaw. “I cannot imagine what it must have been like for you.”

“Thank you for asking, Professor,” Alya stated. “I’m doing as best as I can.”

“That’s good to hear,” Lupin told her.

“Harry, can I ask you something?” Alya asked the Gryffindor. The path was too narrow for the three of them to walk in a line, so Alya had to turn her head back to talk to him.

“Sure,” the boy allowed.

“When you came back to visit me in the infirmary, how much did you hear me say?” She asked him.

Knowing exactly what she meant, Harry stated, “I heard your dad ask you what you saw, and then I heard you tell him about your parents' murder… and your capture… you’re a Maledictus, aren’t you?”

“And he finally figures it out!” She said almost as if in a game show. “I thought you would eventually. What twelve year old has the patience and practice to be able to become an animagus?”

“So, I take it that Harry found out about this last year?” Lupin theorized. “Didn’t know what it was until now?”

“Did you know Professor?” Harry asked, looking up at the man.

“Indeed I did Harry,” the man admitted. “In fact, we discussed it after I taught the class about boggarts.”

Harry nodded, remembering the day when he stepped in front of a boggart and it turned into a dementor. There was a small moment of silence before Harry stopped walking and asked, “Professor, why do the dementors affect me so? I mean, more than everyone else?”

Lupin stopped. Noticing this, and wanting to hear his answer, she stopped too. “Listen,” Lupin explained, “the dementors are amongst the foulest creatures to walk this earth. They feed on every good feeling, every happy memory until a person is left with absolutely nothing but their worst experiences.”

“Hence why I had that whole bad trip down memory lane for a few days,” Alya deduced.

“Precisely,” the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher said. “You were so affected by it, Alya, that your mind shut down as your nightmares and horrible past came back to you.” He walked a few steps before adding, “You are not weak.” The man looked at both of his students. “Neither of you are. Harry, the dementors only go after you most of all because there are true horrors in your mind. Horrors your classmates could scarcely imagine. That goes for you too, Alya. Neither of you have anything to be ashamed of.” Lupin looked to the Ravenclaw. He was about to say something, but she beat him to it.

“And they would go after me just as equally if I wasn’t careful. Which I have been…” they started walking again. “To tell you both the truth, I haven’t gone flying in a week, just to avoid them.”

“You're scared,” Harry noticed, making the girl look at him. “I am too.” To that, Alya smiled.

“Well, I’d consider you both fools if you weren’t,” Lupin interjected. 

The boy looked to the ground before his head lifted up. Alya could tell that he had an idea in his head. “I need to know how to fight them,” Harry said. “You can teach me.” He then turned to Alya before saying, “You can teach both of us. You made that dementor on the train go away.”

“There was only one, that night,” Lupin reasoned. “Besides, Alya can already fend them off with an ancient spell that I have never heard of.”

Excitedly, Harry looked at Alya. “Really?” He asked.

“Yes, Harry,” Alya admitted. “But I’m afraid I cannot teach it to you.”

“Why not?”

The Ravenclaw grasped her pendant and said, “You see this necklace. This is an ancient artifact that holds very ancient magic, it chose me as its protector. Besides, that magic can only be used with this pendant.”

Hardy studied the ground. Noticing this, Alya mentioned, “I’m sorry Harry.”

“No, it’s alright.”

Lupin looked as if he was contemplating on actually taking him up on his request. “Well, I don’t pretend to be an expert Harry, but since you don’t have a way to rid them as Alya can,” the man sat down on the edge of the hill by the lake. The students did the same. “Perhaps I should teach you.”

* * *

Another visit to Hogsmeade was scheduled, but this time, Alya did decide to go as a human. However, she arrived late to the student gathering and was running to catch up with them when she saw Fred and George making a snowman.

“Careful, there!” One of them called. “You might slip!” The other one followed up.

As she ventured through down the path covered in snow, she couldn’t help but notice a black dog looking at her. But it was only there for two seconds. She might have to tell him about it when she gets back, the boy did mention one in divination class. 

When she finally did arrive, the girl decided to head into the Honeydukes first. Next, Zonko’s Joke Shop. Not to buy anything like she did in Honeydukes, just look at what was inside. She’ll have to admit that that place does hold some very fun tricks. Some of which she might just buy for future use.

The girl found both Hermione and Ron sitting outside on the side of The Three Broomsticks. “Hey guys,” she greeted while coming up to them. The Ravenclaw then saw both of their faces. “What happened?”

Before anything could be said, Hermione pointed at the snow. “Look,” she said. Both Ron’s and Alya’s heads turned to see footsteps come up towards Alya, then go around her. “That has to be Harry,” Granger suspected. Quickly, the three of them went after the invisible wizard. They had to weasel their way through the crowd to follow him, even though he nearly knocked everyone over as he passed them. 

Noticing this fact, Alya deduced that he must be in a really bad or upset mood. She also thought that he must have gotten his hands on an invisibility cloak at some point. How else would Hermione know that the strange bunch of footprints indenting the snow was Harry’s?

He stopped in the forest, close to the entrance to the shrieking shack. It sounded like he was crying.

The three of them slowly approached. Only Hermione got close enough to pull his invisible cloak off. “Harry, what happened?” she asked.

“He was their friend, and he betrayed them,” Potter stated, voice slightly shaking. “He was their friend! I hope he finds me. When he does, I’m gonna be ready. When he does, I’m gonna kill him.”

Alya’s features softened as she sighed gently. As they walked back, Harry explained to them that Sirius is his godfather.

“Really?” Alya asked, restraining herself from saying, Siriusly. “Are you sure you heard them correctly?”

“I know what I heard, and he betrayed my parents!” The Chosen One said. His voice was laced with a hint of malice. The sentence said milliseconds after Alya’s question.

Not another word was said. Harry had to sneak back into the castle while Alya, Ron, and Hermione went back with their year.

* * *

Just about a week later, Harry and Alya find themselves on another walk through the forest with Remus Lupin.

“How did you come across that map, Harry?” Lupin asked. Alya had heard about it from Hermione, but only that it tells you where people are all the time throughout the castle.

“Fred and George actually gave it to me, sir,” the boy admits.

“And do you know where they got it from?” The Professor questioned.

“They got it from Filch’s office.”

“And Filch got it from us,” Remus muttered.

“Professor, what do you mean by ‘us’?” Alya questioned.

“Harry, do you know who the map means when it says Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail?”

“No I don’t sir,” he told him, his head turning to look up at the man.

Lupin smiled. “I am Moony, three of my friends made up the other three.” 

“There’s something I don’t understand,” stated Harry. “Pettigrew was supposed to be dead right?”

“We thought so too,” Lupin agreed, “Until the Marauders Map said otherwise.”

Alya looked over at Harry who seemed to have stopped a few paces ago. She halted her steps. As did Lupin.

“Professor,” Harry called. “Are you Moony?”

“Yes I am Harry,” the Professor stated as he approached the boy.

“And I’m guessing Padfoot was a dog animagus?” Alya guessed.

“Yes.”

“Why would Prongs be a nickname?” Harry guessed. Lupin nodded. 

“He was a stag, Harry. We called him Prongs because he had antlers. They made themselves into animagi to make me feel better. Never registered. Anyway-“

“Were you the Marauders?” Alya questioned. Her eyes filled with wonder. She noticed that she never called any of the other people by their actual names.

“Why yes, yes we were.” 

Harry and Alya both looked at each other with the same level of wonder and excitement and simultaneously said, “Cool.” The double o’s exaggerated slightly.

“What about Wormtail,” Harry muttered to himself. The boy questioned.

“A rat.” Their Professor pronounces the t. The word was said as if he hated the word.

Pretty soon, the three of them went back into school grounds to continue on with their day.

* * *

A few days later, as she was going around the castle doing her morning flying when she decided to get close to the forest. Along the edge of the wood, she saw the black dog again. It turned tail, and in her bird form, Alya decided to follow him.

There was a point when she lost him, so she landed, still keeping her bird form.

“You can de transform, animagus,” a male voice said, presumably Sirius Black’s.

She followed the voice and found a person with long black hair, and a prison outfit. He sat with his back leaning against the tree. He eyed her suspiciously. Alya then chose to detransform in front of him. “Actually, sir, I’m a Maledictus.”

The man glanced at the insignia on her robe. “And a Ravenclaw,” he noticed. “Tell me, why are you following me?”

“Because Harry wants to kill you.” She waited a few seconds before continuing. “And I don’t think that you’re it.” She had read about his case in the library over the break.

“And why would I not be ‘it?' As you put it.”

“Because, if you really are his godfather, and you really were best friends with his parents, I’m not sure anything would have been strong enough to make you tear yourself away from them and betray them.”

The man smiled before nodding with his head facing the ground. “You got it right. I did kill someone. That crime I am guilty of, but I was never guilty of betrayal.”

Alya’s lips made a thin line as she contemplated her next sentence. “Sir, there’s something you should know.”

“Go on, spit it out.”

“Lupin once told me, that someone in his friend group at Hogwarts could turn himself into a rat,” she paused.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Go on.”

“Well, there’s this rat that a Weasley has and he once told me that it was older than any rat should be… and, it’s been missing for a week now.”

“I see.” Alya saw the eyes of rage consume the suspicious ones that he previously held. His eyes studied the ground. After a few seconds, he looked up and said, “You should return to your tower, Ravenclaw.”

“Of course, sir.” Alya got up and was about to turn to leave but Sirius stopped her.

“One thing, though, before you go. What should I call you?”

“Alya, sir.” She was about to take a step away from him when the man spoke again.

“No, what should I call you?” Thinking that he must mean her nickname. The Marauders all had nicknames that had some meaning to them tied to their alternate form.

“You know, I haven’t thought about it, sir.” With that, she turned into her bird form and flew off back into the window she came out of.

That same morning, it was rumored that Sirius Black snuck into the Gryffindor common room during the night. Alya thought to herself, _“So that’s why he was so close to the grounds.”_

She paid no mind to the rumor and went to class.


	8. Hogwarts Year Three Part 6: The Night Sirius Black appears in the Shrieking Shack

Today was the day that Buckbeak would be executed. Alya doesn’t know that much about the reason, as she only heard rumors, but apparently, it had something to do with the Malfoys and a parent association meeting.

All her classes were done for the day, so she thought she’d go say goodbye to the magnificent beast. She noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione exit Hagrid’s hut with a certain rat in toe. Knowing that the small rodent could definitely be Pettigrew, she followed them from high in the sky. When they were a little bit farther away from Hagrid’s hut, and close to the Whomping Willow, Scabbers bit Ron’s hand and started escaping towards the great tree. 

Alya almost had him until Ron dove for his pet, shooing her away. She circled the four of them for a few seconds before Sirius appeared in dog form. Instead of going for the rat, he just took Ron instead and dragged them both in the hole beneath the Willow. Quickly, Alya decided to follow.

Soon after, she caught up with the three of them in the Shrieking Shack. Sirius was just turning himself into his human form when she flew in. He stood by the door facing a very scared Ron, clutching his pet rat in his hands. Alya circled the room before Sirius extended his arm so that she could perch there. 

The bird was about to try and pry Pettigrew out of Ron’s hands. She was so close, but Sirius called her off. “Peregrine,” he said. “We can wait.” She then flew beside the man and turned herself back into her human form, sitting on the ground.

“I should have known it was you, Alya,” Ron stated. “Your Maledictus form is taking over your mind, you tried to go after Scabbers!”

The Ravenclaw rolled her eyes as Sirius looked down at her and questioned, “He knows you’re a maledictus?” She nodded. “Since when?”

“Since last year,” she told the man. “I helped him, Harry, and Ron’s sister Ginny get out of the Chamber of Secrets. I had to transform.”

“Hey, wait a minute, Alya, since when were you in league with a criminal?” Ron asked, pointing at Sirius.

“It’s impolite to point Ron, and, that’s beside the point,” the girl dismissed his question. The ginger-haired Gryffindor was about to say something back when he heard Harry’s voice.

“Ron?” The Boy Who Lived called, worried for his friend’s safety.

“Harry!” The ginger boy yelled.

“Ron are you alright?” Hermione asked.

“Where’s the black dog?” Harry questioned. “And the falcon?”

Ron pointed at Sirius and said, “It’s a trap. He isn’t a dog, and it isn’t a falcon... he’s an animagus, and she’s a maledictus.” The other two teens followed his fingers to find both Alya and Sirius sitting there.

“Alya?” Hermione recognized. “What are you doing here? You’re a maledictus?”

“She was the falcon that tried to get Scabbers,” Ron told her.

“Why? Why are you helping _him_?” Harry questioned, bringing his wand out.

“Everything’s not how it seems,” she told him. As she did so, Sirius took a few steps towards the teens. 

Hermione stepped in front of him. “If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too.”

“More than one will die tonight,” the man said eerily.

“And it will be you!” Exclaimed Harry as he pushed past Hermione and ran towards the criminal. He grabbed him wrestled him to the ground, pointing his wand at his face.

“Harry, stop!” Alya yelled as she got up.

“Get back, Alya!” Harry warned.

The raven-haired man laughed. “You think you can kill me, Harry?” He mocked.

“Expelliarmus!” Exclaimed Remus as he barged into the room. He then gestured for Harry to get off of the criminal. “Well, well Sirius, looking rather raged aren’t we?” The Professor’s wand pointed at him. “Finally, the face reflects the madness within.”

“Well, you’d know all about the madness within, wouldn’t you, Remus?” The criminal countered.

They looked at each other for a solid few seconds before Remus’ facial features seemed to soften, and he pointed his wand away from him. The Professor helped the criminal to his feet. They hugged.

Alya smiled slightly, while the other three students gave each other strange glances.

“I found him,” Sirius stated almost desperately. Only Remus and Alya knew exactly what he meant.

“I know,” said Remus.

“Let’s kill him,” the raven-haired criminal said menacingly.

Hermione stepped forward slightly. “No!” Her voice was like the raging sea. “I trusted you!” She then looked to Alya. “Both of you!” She looked back at Remus. “And all this time, you’ve been his friend! He’s a werewolf!” She turned to her Gryffindor friends. “That’s why he’s been missing classes.” Remus turned towards her.

“Right, and I’m a Maledictus,” Alya confirmed. Granger whipped around with a shocked look. She had just found out minutes ago, and was now believing in it. “As I said before, ‘Mione,” Alya stated, getting up from her spot. “It’s not like it seems. Move aside.”

“What? No!” The Gryffindor moves to protect Harry. The two of them now stood in front of Ron who held the target.

“Alright, both of you move aside,” the Maledictus ordered. Confused, the two of them looked between each other.

“Wait a minute, Perry,” Lupin ordered, putting his hand in front of her, motioning for her to stop. Alya didn’t show it, but she became slightly happy in this intense moment. He had just given her a nickname. It must have stemmed from Peregrine. Lupin stepped closer to Granger, asking her, “How long have you known?”

“Since Professor Snape set the essay,” she confessed.

“Well well well, Hermione you really are the brightest witch of your age I’ve ever met,” Remus complimented. It almost sounded like an insult, however.

“Enough talk, Remus!” Sirius whined, moving away from the man. “Come on, let’s kill ‘em!”

“Wait!” Remus commanded.

“I did my waiting!” Sirius exclaimed. His voice was like the strongest of storms. “Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!”

“Very well,” Lupin accepted with little contemplation, handing over his wand. “Kill him, but wait one. More. Minute. Harry has the right to know why.”

“I know why!” Harry stated. The ending sound of the last word sounding wavy. “You betrayed my parents. You’re the reason they’re dead.”

“No Harry, it wasn’t him,” Lupin defended his friend. “Somebody did betray your parents, but it was somebody who until quite recently, I believed to be dead.”

“Who was it then?” Demanded Harry, jerking his head up slightly.

“Peter Pettigrew!” Black spat out. “And he’s in this room!” The man gestured to the empty space with his hands. “Right now. Come out come out, Peter!” The madman called. “Come out come out and play!”

“Expelliarmus!” Cast Snape, suddenly making himself seen. Everyone turned to see him with his wand pointed at Sirius. “How I’d hoped I’d be the one to catch you.”

“Severus,” Remus tried, but The potions master kept ongoing. Sirius and the Defense Professor kept moving into the corner.

“I told Dumbledore you would let an old friend into the castle, and now, here’s the proof.”

“That’s brilliant Snape,” Sirius taunted, stepping closer to the Slytherin. “Ounce again you put your keen and penetrating mind to the task, and as usual, came to the wrong conclusion.” Snape lowered his wand slightly. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Remus and I have some unfinished business to attend to.” He was right close to the man’s wand.

“Give me a reason,” Snape said as he touched his wand to Sirius’ throat. “I beg of you,” he mocked.

“Severus, don’t be a fool,” Lupin warned. Black then said something Alya couldn’t quite distinguish over the other talking. “Sirius be quiet!”

“Oh, quiet yourself, Remus!”

“Oh, look at you two, quarreling like an old married couple,” Snape taunted.

“Why don’t you run along and play with your chemistry set?” Teased Sirius.

“I could do it you know,” the Professor stared coldly. “But why deny the dementors? They’re so longing to see you.” Sirius began backing up. “Do I detect a flicker of fear of the dementor’s kiss?” Snape followed, still with his wand against the escaped prisoner’s throat. “One can only imagine what that must be like to endure. It’s said to be unbearable to witness, but I’ll do my best.”

“Severus, please,” Remus tried to reason with him.

“After you,” the potions master’s wand went away from Sirius’s throat.

All of a sudden, Alya saw Harry approach with Hermione’s wand in hand. He cast an Expeliarmus. Snape was knocked into the bed out cold.

“Harry, what did you just do?” Ron asked, sounding very worried.

“You attacked a teacher!” Hermione criticized

Harry then pointed the wand at Sirius. “Tell me about Peter Pettigrew!” 

“He was at school with us, we thought he was our friend.” Remus told him. 

“No, Pettigrew’s dead,” Harry countered.

“Harry,” Alya tried, stepping forward slightly. She stopped when Harry pointed the wand at her. “He’s alive. He’s in this room.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry interrogated. “He’s dead.” the boy pointed his wand at Sirius. “He killed him.”

“No he didn’t,” Lupin interjected stepping in front of the wand. “I thought he was dead too, until you mentioned seeing him on the map.”

“The map was lying then,” Harry reasoned, switching aiming the wand between the three who stood on the opposite side of it. 

“The map never lies,” Sirius told him. “Pettigrew’s alive, and he’s right there,” stared Sirius as he pointed in Ron’s direction.

“Me?” Asked Ron. “He’s mental,” the ginger concluded.

“Not you!” Sirius corrected. “Your rat!” 

At that accusation, Ron looked very offended. “Scabbers has been in my family for twe-”

“Twelve years!” the escape interrupted. He stepped forward. “Curiously long life for the common rat.” The man pointed at the creature. “He’s missing a toe isn’t he?”

“So what?” Ron questioned, not putting together what was being said.

“All I could find of Pettigrew was his fin-”

“Finger,” Black interrupted Harry, turning towards the boy. “The darn coward cut it off so that everyone would think he was dead!” With a swift turn, the man refocused his attention towards the rat in Ron’s hands. “And then he turned himself into a rat!”

“Show me,” Harry commanded with his wand pointed in Sirius’ direction. The man tried to grab the rodent, but Ron wouldn’t let him take it. “Give it to him, Ron,” Harry told the ginger head.

“What are you trying to do to him?” Ron asked, his voice panicked as the man succeeded in prying the rat out of his hands. “Scabbers!” he yelled. Hermione took hold of his arm to restrain him. “Leave him alone!” the boy pleaded. “Get off him! What are you doing?”

The rodent landed on the piano and ran away from the men as they tried to stop him with magic. Sirius finally managed to catch him as he tried to go through a hole. The rat transformed into a man. Remus and Sirius pulled him out of the hole and threw him away from them. Alya glanced over to Ron to see his shocked face.

Once he stopped moving, he noticed the two men in front of him. “Remus, Sirius,” he said slowly. “My old friends.” The man then tried to push past them and run out of the door, which failed as the two of them blocked the exit and pushed him back.

Now, both of their wands were pointed at him. Pettigrew looked between the two of them before looking at Peter.

“Harry,” the rat guy stated as he stepped closer to the boy. “You-you look just like James. We were the best of friends he and I.”

Sirius came forward and yanked Peter away from Harry. “How dare you speak to Harry,” the raven haired man threatened him back. 

Remus jumped in, “How dare you talk about James in front of him.” Pettigrew sniveled. “You sold James and Lily to Voldemort. Didn’t you?”

“I didn’t mean to,” he defended himself in a Whiny voice. “The dark lord. You have no idea the weapons he possesses. Such as Sirius. What would you have done?” He turned to the other animagus. “What would you have done?”

“I would have died!” Sirius barked at him. Peter turned back into a rat and went under the piano. “I would have died rather than betray my friends!”

The rat animagus got up from under the instrument and went directly towards The Boy Who Lived, saying, “Harry,” he then grabbed the boy with both shoulders and slightly whispered in his ear, “James wouldn’t want me to be killed. He would have shown me mercy.” That last word was said in panic as Remus grabbed the sorry excuse for a man off of Harry.

Peter was now backed up against the wall. Both adults’ wands pointed at him. “You should have realized, Peter,” Sirius told him. “That if Voldemort didn’t kill you,then we would, together!”

“No!” Harry suddenly exclaimed.

“Harry,” Remus tried to reason with the boy. “This man is-“

“I know what he is,” the boy interrupted. “But we’ll take him to the castle.”

“Bless you, boy.” Peter got down on his knees. “Bless you.”

“Get up!” Harry commanded. As the man slowly rose, the boy continued speaking. “I said we’d take you to the castle. After that, the dementors can have you.”

Peter shuddered.

As the group walked back out of the shrieking shack through the secret tunnel, Sirius talked with Ron. He and Hermione helped the boy walk. “Sorry about that bite,” he said. “I reckon that twinges a bit.”

“A bit? A BIT?” Ron said in a panicked voice. “You almost tore my leg off.”

“Well, I was going for the rat,” the man explained. “Normally, I have a very sweet disposition as a dog. In fact, more than once James suggested that I make the switch permanent.” They stopped for a moment. “The tale I can live with, but the fleas are murder.” They then resumed their path.

“Hey, Alya!” Hermione called you the witch in front of them. “When were you going to tell Marcella and I about your blood curse?” She questioned. Maledicti are only Maledicti because their blood is cursed. It’s hereditary.

“Well, I didn’t exactly have a plan,” Alya told the Gryffindor as she walked ahead of them, turning her head and her body slightly to face her. “Besides, very few people know I even have a secret to keep. Then there are only four who know two of my secrets. Even then, two of them know a completely separate secret from the other two. However, the common secret that they know about me, is that I am a Maledictus. There’s only one completely separate person who knows all three.”

“And I’m guessing that those four people are here now?” Ron questioned, trying to keep his mind distracted from his leg.

“Well, three of them are,” Alya admitted. “I’m not saying who’s who though.”

“Seems fair,” the ginger wizard commented.

Pretty soon, they made it out of the tunnel and back with the whomping willow. 


	9. Hogwarts Year Three Part 7: the end

After Alya and the group got out from under the tree, Sirius and Hermione set Ron down. Harry went to check on his friend as his godfather walked away from the group.

“You better go,” advises Ron, talking to Harry as he noticed his longing look at the man.

“No, no it’s fine, I’ll stay,” the Chosen One assures.

“You go, I’ll stay,” Hermione told him, jerking her head in the direction of Sirius.

“You okay?” Harry asked Ron, getting up from his spot.

“I’m fine,” said Ron. “Go.”

As Harry passed Alya, they made brief eye contact before looking away. She watched as the boy spoke with his godfather. It seemed like a very tender moment.

Then, Lupin brought Pettigrew out at wand-point. He was still talking. Alya sought to block his annoying voice out.

Just as she glanced at the sky, the girl found a full moon. Oh no. “Harry! Lupin!” She shouted, pointing at the moon. Everyone turned to look at it as it’s light shined on the Professor.

Quickly, Sirius rushed to his aid. He put his hands on the man’s shoulders asking, “Remus, my old friend, have you taken your potion tonight?” Alya could only guess that it was a potion to stop his transformation. Obviously, he didn’t. Remus whimpered as he tried not to transform. Sirius tried to stop him from doing so. “You know the man you truly are, Remus. This heart is where you truly live. This heart here.” He said as he touched Lupin’s chest.

One of their wands dropped and Alya’s attention was taken away from her professor to Pettigrew. Harry noticed it too. Before she could cast it, Harry yelled, “Expeliarmus!” Relieving the man of the magic tool.

Pettigrew simply waved as he turned himself into a rat and ran away, not wanting that filth to escape, Alya told him, “Stay here, I’ll try and get him!” before turning into her bird form.

She flew as fast as she could to catch up with the rodent, which wasn’t very hard. It’s the darkness, however, that she has to figure out. The girl’s done night flies before, she just has a prey to focus on now. As far as she knows, Peregrines are diurnal. This means that they are only active during the day… oh well.

The peregrine weaves through branches as she kept moving closer to the rat in height, trying to grab it with her claws. She was so focused on capturing him, that she didn’t notice she was entering the forbidden forest. 

Of course, she only realized this when she had to evade a couple of giant spiders. They almost made her lose the rodent.

It was now getting to the point that she was getting too far away from the castle. Strange creatures would be a more frequent sight. Speaking of those strange creatures, it seems like a troll had just picked the nasty little rat up by the tail.

Alya circled the scene once or twice before the troll went off with the rat in its hands. It might decide to eat him. She’s fine with that. Just to make sure, she flies close to them and follows the troll back or his cave where he appears to be cooking something large in a huge stew pot.

The bird decided to fly back to the castle.

It’s getting really late, and she just saw a really bright light in the distance.

 _“Harry must have mastered his patronus,”_ she thought.

When she arrived at the castle, she found that Harry and Hermione were riding Buckbeak. Something she’ll speak to them about later. For now, it looks like they’re heading for one of the towers.

Alya decides to follow and sees that they’re breaking Sirius out of jail. In her bird form, she followed them to the courtyard. She saw Sirius giving his last goodbyes to both of them before getting back onto Buckbeak.

Once there, she detransformed. “Alya,” Harry noticed. “Did you capture the rat?” 

The Ravenclaw looked down for a moment. “That honor goes to a troll who picked him up off the ground. I followed them to the troll’s cave. The creature was adding the rat to its stew.” The girl then looked between Buckbeak and Sirius. “What exactly did you two do while I was gone?” 

“We’ll talk about that later,” Hermione told her. “Right now, we need to send both of them off.”

Alya smiled. “I know where they can stay,” she told them. Then, she looked to Sirius. “Padfoot, if you’ll allow me, I can take you there.”

“By all means, Perry, lead the way,” the man stated. Gesturing for her to go on ahead. Alya smiled before transforming into a bird. A few seconds later, both the wrongfully convicted criminal, and the wild animal caught up with the bird in the sky.

She led him to the London Sanctuary. After explaining everything to Wong and Strange, they were happy to take him in.

The girl then raced back into the castle and found that her bedroom window was open. Upon further inspection of the room, she noticed that Marcella was asleep, or at least, pretending to be. With nothing left to do, the girl crashed into bed.

* * *

In the morning, she was still slightly sleepy, but paid it no mind.

Later that day, she found that Lupin was leaving. She wanted to say goodbye to the Professor before he left. It seems that Harry wanted to do the same thing.

Together, they stepped into his office.

“Hello Harry, Alya,” greeted Lupin before turning around. The two thirteen year olds looked between each other before the man explained as he pointed to the map, “I saw you coming.” The man then waved his wand at a box and it closed. Scratches lined the man’s face. “I’ve looked worse, believe me.” Lupin turned to pack some box into a larger box.

“You’ve been sacked,” Harry thought out loud, meaning he was fired.

“No,” Lupin corrected. “No, I resigned actually.”

“Resign?” Alya questioned. “Why?”

“Well, it seems that somebody,” Lupin explained as he put various papers away. “Let slip the nature of my condition. This time tomorrow, the owl’s will come in and parents will not want a, well, someone like us, to be teaching.” The girl half smiled at the use of the word us. She understood his words. Hell, if someone let slip Alya’s conduction, parents might not want their kids to be learning with her.

“But Dumbledore-“ Harry tried, but Lupin cut him off.

“Dumbledore has already risked enough on my behalf. Besides, people like Alya and I are, well, let’s just say that we’re used to it by now.” With a flick of his wand, a small closet closed and folded itself up. The latches loudly clicking together. 

“You look so miserable, Harry,” Lupin noticed. Alya looked to her classmate and found it too.

“None of it made any difference,” the boy told them. “Pettigrew could still be out there.”

“Harry, I saw him being dropped into a stew by a troll in rat form,” Alya stated.

“Then why does it feel like he’s still out there?” He questioned.

“Harry,” Lupin said as he sat on the desk. “It made all the difference in the world. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate.”

“Not to mention a magnificent creature as well,” Alya interjected.

“It made a great deal of difference,” Lupin concluded. “Now,” he said as he lifted up one of his bags. He walked over to the large suitcase. “If I am proud of anything, it is of how much both of you have learned this year. Now,” the man stepped closer to the two students. “Since I’m no longer your teacher, I feel no guilt in giving this back to you.” He gestured to the map.

He then looked between the two of them. “So now I’ll say goodbye. I feel sure that we’ll meet again sometime. Until then,” he looked at the map and said, “Mischief managed.” As he tapped the price of paper, the ink disappeared and the map folded up.

The two kids sadly watched as the man left the room. “Goodbye Moony,” Alya stated.

“Goodbye Perry,” he said sadly. 

As the two of them made it back to the mess hall, people were gathered around the Gryffindor table.

“I’m sorry, Harry, I didn’t mean to open it,” Ron apologized. The three kids traveled to the table. “It was badly wrapped and they made me do it.” He pointed to his twin brothers.

“Did not.” They both said simultaneously.

They unraveled the paper to see a brand new broom. “It’s a Firebolt.” “The fastest broom in the world.”

Kids murmured around them as they marveled at the piece of wood.

“Who sent it?” Asked Harry.

“No one knows,” answered Ron.

Hermione lifted up a feather that seemed to have come from Buckbeak, saying, “This came with it.”

“Well fly boy, wanna test it out?” Asked Alya. The Chosen One beamed as he grabbed the broom and raced out the door. A trove of students following him. It was in the courtyard that he finally got on his new broom. In the shadows, Laya turned herself into her bird form to join him. The two of them raced through the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Hope you all enjoyed this year of Hogwarts. I'll be back with their fourth year later.


	10. Year Four part one: they arrive

During the summer, Sirius Black has spent three weeks at the London Sanctuary before managing to get back the house he grew up in. Something that Doctor Strange helped with. It hid itself within the other townhouses. 

Nothing really went on during the summer besides that. Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. Hermione extended an invitation to her and Marcella to the Quidditch World Cup, but both chose not to go, as Quidditch is not their thing.

When the papers arrived, all The Daily Prophet talked about was how there was a death eater attack at the Quidditch world cup, and nothing about the actual game.

When it was time to go back to the train, Alya and Marcella found and sat in a booth together. They both got sweets from the trolley. After arriving at the castle, and situating themselves in their room, the paintings gossiped about some big event. Even the house elves seemed to be preparing for something. What it was, Alya couldn’t quite figure out. Guess she’ll just have to wait and see what happens as the year goes on.

She didn’t need to wait that long. In late October, pegusi seemed to appear right out of the sky, students of Hogwarts flooded to courtyard and bridge. Alya heard that Hagrid had to guide them in.

Off in the distance, people saw a ship rise out of the ocean. It let its flag hang as it approached the castle.

Soon, it was time for the annual first meal. Students gathered into the great hall. New ones were sorted. Dumbledor commenced his speech. “Now that we’re all settled in and sorted, I’d like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well.” Alya saw Filch come in awkwardly, she could tell that he was running, but something was amiss. “You see,” Dumbledore continued, “Hogwarts has been chosen,” before he could even finish that sentence, Filch started speaking with him quietly. It must have been urgent. Their conversation dragged on for a little over half a minute before Filch went running out of the Great Hall. “Hogwarts has been chosen,” the headmaster restarted. “To host a legendary event. The Triwizard Tournament. For those of you who do not know, the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school, a single student is selected to compete. Let me be clear. If chosen, you stand alone. Trust me when I say, these contests are not for the faint-hearted. More of that later. Now, please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.” The doors opened to reveal many women all wearing blue outfits complete with hats. “And their headmistress, Madame Maxine.”

The girls stopped for a moment and then leaned down on their right shoulders, sighing. (For some gosh dang reason, they immediately reminded Alya of Lobelia from Ouran Highschool Host Club. But no one needs to know that.) A few steps after that, they did the same thing. They then sort of skipped around as blue butterflies emerged from their light coats. The girls then split off from one another. With the last two, however, one wore a leotard and did a few different acrobatic feats while the other gracefully completed ballet turns. After that, both of them bowed. The Hogwarts students cheered. Alya then took note of how tall their headmistress is. Especially next to Dumbledore.

Speaking of the headmaster, he went down to greet her before getting back to his podium to silence the crowd. “And now, our friends from the north, please great the proud sons of Durmstrang and their high master Igor Karkaroff. 

As they entered, they tapped their staffs against the ground once then twice, releasing sparks from the bottom of them. Next, they did the same with their other hand before holding it up horizontally with both hands. With the first hand, they tapped it thrice against the ground before twirling it once in front of them and passing it to their other hand. After tapping it thrice against the ground again, they twirled it in three seperate directions. Next, the student in front placed his on the ground and sprinted towards the golden eagle podium and did some acrobatics. The rest sprinted to the same place, but with their staffs in hand. The people’s direction was then aimed at the entrance of their high master and two students. One in front of the man, and one in back. “Albus,” the high master greeted with a hug. Dumbledor did the same, saying, “Igor.”

As soon as all the food was eaten, the Great Hall was cleared out. The tables turned into bleachers. A giant torch burning blue light sat in the center of the room. Dumbledor drew an aging line around it. Anyone who wasn’t seventeen or older wouldn’t be allowed to pass through.

An abundance of Ravenclaws hung around there for the remainder of their evening. Meanwhile, Alya and Marcella were in their room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post guys!  
> And sorry that this one's short.  
> FYI, I'm releasing the first few chapters of the year before I release the entire thing. (If you got this far anyway)


	11. Year Four part two: Mad Eye Moody and the Selection

The fourth-year schedule was four classes a day. Two before lunch, and two after lunch. She still has History of Magic, along with Care For Magical Creatures, and the core subjects, Potions, Charms, Transfig., Defense Against The Dark Arts, and Herbology. After last year, like Hermione, Alya dropped Divination. 

Alya’s last class on Wednesday was Defense Against The Dark Arts. She knew that this class would never be the same without Lupin there. It would never be as fun as he tried to make it be. The new professor for this class was an ex-aurur, Alastor Moody. The man wrote his name on the board in chalk. The handwriting was messy.

“I’m here because Dumbledore asked me,” he said. His hands gathered together behind his back. “End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?” he paused. His fake eye looking at everyone. “When it comes to the dark arts,” he finally stated, “I believe in a practical approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?”

“There are three, sir,” Alya answered before Hermione could. No one else wanted to answer. They’re talking about freaking curses here.

“And they are so named?” Moody questioned, scribbling something down on the board.

“Because they are unforgivable,” Granger answered. “The use of any one of them will-”

She was cut off by Moody. He finished, “Earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Correct.” The man then turned around to face the class. “Now, the ministry says you’re too young to see what these curses do.” He slammed the chalk onto his desk before half-yelling, “I say different! You need to know what you’re up against! You need to be _prepared_!” He then glanced at one of the Gryffindors in his class. “You need to find a better place to put your chewing gum beside the underside your desk, Mr. Finnegan!” 

The Gryffindor stopped what he was doing immediately. “Now,” the teacher continued. “Which curse shall we see first?” He asked his class as he walked right up to Harry and Ron’s desk. “Weasley!” he roared.

“Yes?” the ginger-haired student asked in a small squeaky voice.

“Stand up!” Moody barked at him. The boy did as asked. “Tell us about a curse.”

Scared out of his wits, Ron said, “Well, my dad did tell me about one… The imperious curse.”

“Oh, yeahhh,” said Moody. “Your father would know all about that. Gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago.” Moody stepped back from the student and went back to his desk, saying, “Perhaps this will show you why.” In one of his many jars, was a spider. He took it out and enlarged it with an engorgio spell. It grew to be twice its original size. Moody then unleashed the imperious curse. It shook a little before stopping. He then made the spider hop from the first desk to the second, landing on Crabe’s face. The Slytherin tried to get it off of his head, but didn’t succeed. “Don’t worry, it’s completely harmless.” Some of the students started to laugh.

The spider then floated over to one of the Indian twins, crawling up her arm. Next, it floated above Ron’s head. After that, it traveled onto Weasley’s face. Then, after seeing Draco laugh especially hard at that, Moody made the spider go onto _his_ face. 

Draco turned to Goyle in a panicked manner telling him to get it off. The lackey almost attempted to slap Malfoy in the face.

“Haha! What should I do next?” Moody questioned as he brought the spider away from the boy. “Should I throw her out the window?” The spider landed on a part of glass. The class halted in their laughter. “Should I make her drown herself?” he asked as he had the spider hover over a cup of liquid. The man did neither of those. Instead, he floated the arachnid right onto his hand. 

“Scores of witches, and wizards,” the professor continued. “Have claimed that they only did You Know Who’s bidding under the influence of the Imperius curse. But here’s the rub. How do we sort out the liars? Another. Another.” He told his class as he meant to ask them about a curse that could do such a thing. A whole bunch of students including Granger raised their hands, but Moody chose Longbottom to answer this one.

“Longbottom, is it?” he questioned. The boy nodded. “Up.” he stood. “Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology.” Neville nodded.

“The-the-the-there’s um, the Cruciatus curse,” Neville told the man.

“Correct!” Moody then gestured to him to come closer saying, “Come, come.” Once the Gryffindor was close enough, he muttered, “This might get a little nasty.” Pointing his wand at the spider, he said, “Crucio.” The arachnid started to squeal and squirm. Alya looked around the room. Everyone, including Alya would agree that this was torture for them to watch. Upon closer inspection, however, the Ravenclaw saw that it was as if Neville was experiencing the pain himself.

“Stop it!” Hermione yelled. “Can’t you see that it’s bothering him? Stop it!” 

The professor looked to Longbottom and stopped the curse. He then immediately picked up the small creature and placed it one her book. “Perhaps, you could give us the last curse, Miss Granger,” he said to her.

She shook her head. Alya, who sat one desk away from her could see the tears forming in her eyes. Seeing this as well, Moody cast, “Avada Kedavra,” himself. “The killing curse,” he went on to say. “Only one person is known to survive it.” Alya knew exactly who he was talking about, but she didn’t want him to feel weird. “And he’s sitting in this room,” Moody stated after a few seconds.

Alya secretly wished for this class to be over. Sure enough, in just a few seconds, it was.

* * *

After dinner, everyone gathered in the Great Hall to hear who had been selected to compete in the grand magic games, as Alya liked to call them. Once the headmaster called for everyone to settle down, the very noisy room instantly became quiet.

To Alya, it seemed almost fitting that the closing of the champions would happen on Halloween night. This was the moment that three people’s lives will be changed severely. There’s a chance of death, or losing a limb, or even losing one of the five senses. They should be scared going into this.

“Now the moments,” Dumbledore projected. “You’ve all been waiting for. The champion selection.” He then moved his hand to extinguish the flames of the surrounding stone torches that lined the walls. Now, only the blue flame of the cauldron remained. He touched it, then stepped back. After a few seconds, the flame became red and spit out a name. Dumbledore read, “The Durmstrang champion is, Viktor Krum!” The boys from the academy cheered as Krum stepped up to the center of the room. He shook hands with Dumbledore who then gestured for him to go off into a room below them.

The flame became red as it spit out another name. “The champion from Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!” The girls from the academy cheered as their champion went to shake hands with Hogwarts’ Headmaster and joined Viktor.

The fire spits out another name. Dumbledore read, “The Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory.” Everyone who knew him cheered as he got up and did what the other two did. 

“Excellent!” Dumbledore exclaimed, arms outstretched. “We now have our three champions.” All of the students quiet down. The headmaster continued, bringing his hands together. “But in the end, only one will go down in history.” A man brought something covered by a decorative sheet. “Only one will hoist this chalice of champions. This vessel of victory.” He turned to the covered object and with a point, he unveiled the object. A silver chalice with glowing blue light. “The TriWizard Cup!” Students cheered at the sight of it.

All of a sudden, the blue flames of the torch in the center of the room began to burn violently. It then flashes red before spitting out a fourth name. The headmaster of Hogwarts caught. Upon reading it, he mumbled, “Harry Potter.” Whispers begin to spread. No one moved. Dumbledore then said his name louder. Still nothing. After shouting the name, Alya saw Hermione nudge him to get up. Everyone was quiet as the Boy Who Lived took cautious steps towards the headmaster. He then gave the boy a small sheet of paper that said his name. He went down into the room.

The headmasters and teachers of the schools started bickering as they went down there to join them. Everyone was dismissed for the night.


	12. Year Four part three: Down Time

The next day, during the break between classes, Alya went flying in her bird form. She had just come down to the lake when she heard Hermione scream, “I’m not an owl!!” Deciding to check things out, she perched herself on a branch as Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walk away as Harry sits against a tree and Neville wades in the water. 

She decides to go down to the ground beside The Boy Who Lived, still in her bird form. After she lands, she squawks at him a few times and uses her wings so that she could hop around some.

“Harry, I think that bird’s mental,” Neville stated.

Harry just chuckled slightly before greeting her, “Hello Perry,” the boy said softly.

“Are you talking to the bird?” Neville questioned. “Are you alright Harry?” The Gryffindor got out of the water and toweled off his feet before putting his shoes back on and rolling his pants down.

“Yeah, I’m fine Neville,” he answered.

Noticing that Harry wasn’t getting up from his spot, Longbottom stated, “Okay, well, I’m going to head back.” He left. 

As soon as he was out of sight, the Peregrine falcon changed back into Alya. “Hey,” she greeted. The girl then sat down right next to Harry. “So, I take it that Ron’s mad at you?”

“Yeah,” he said in a way that told her he didn’t want to talk about it.

“How do you feel?” She asked him. “About all this?” 

“Did you come down here to ask me that?” He looked at her, expecting her to say yes.

“No,” she responded, looking at the lake. “I can here to enjoy the peace and quiet. I just thought I’d check on you.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine.” Alya knew that to be a lie, but knew not to press on the matter any further.

The two of them ended up sitting there for a couple more minutes, just enjoying the silence. 

Alya stated because she wanted to support a friend. Harry stayed because he didn’t want to face them all. He just wanted to stay there, where everything is peaceful. Despite the fact that across this very lake last year, it was filled with dementors.

They even walked back to school together. Upon arrival in the courtyard, their attention went to Draco as he called, “Why so tense Potter?” The blonde Slytherin sat in the tree. “My father and I have a bet you see,” he continued talking.

 _“Oh boy, here he goes again,”_ Alya thought to herself. 

“Come on,” she quietly said to Harry, trying to make him walk away. It started working.

“I think that you won’t last ten minutes in the tournament!” Draco projected. That made Harry stop in his tracks. The prince then hopped down and stepped forward. His posey walking behind him. “He disagrees. He thinks you might last five.” 

Alya tried to stop Harry from engaging, but it was all in vain as he walked right up to Draco saying, “I don’t give a damn what your father thinks, Malfoy.” He then pushed him back slightly. Draco growled at him. “He’s vile and cruel,” Harry pauses, staring right into Malfoy’s eyes. “And you look pathetic.”

The Boy Who Lived then walked away towards Alya. They were about to leave when she heard Draco mutter, “Pathetic? I’ll show you pathetic.”

Before anything could be done, Moody came out from behind a pillar no one knew he was standing behind and yelled, “Oh no you don’t soney.” The boy yelped as he was turned into a ferret. Hearing this, both Potter and Cortez turned around. Harry smiled. “How dare you aim your wand at someone when their back is turned.”

Moody then walked forward and made the ferret float up and down as he said, “You stinkin’, cowardly, scumish,-“

Alya’s attention was turned to McGonagall as she ran up asking, “Professor Moody, what are you doing?” Students started to gather around as well.

“Teaching,” Professor Alastor answered, still moving the ferret up and down with his wand.

“Is that a—Is that a student?” The Transfigurations teacher continued questioning.

“Technically, it’s a ferret,” Moody answered, confirming that the creature was a student.

Moody then dropped ferret Draco down Crabe’s pants. Goyle tried to get him out. While everyone was except Macgonagall was laughing, Alya just rolled her eyes and walked away to her next class.

As she did so, she heard more yelling from Moody. She’s starting to not like this Professor. Actually, she would have much preferred if Moony was still teaching.

The rest of the day, and week, for that matter was pretty boring. The usual first day of class stuff went on, except for the classes that repeated themselves, like Potions, and Charms. 

Everyone was excited for the first trial of the tournament, which will happen in a week. 


	13. Year Four part four: The games begin and Alya's story

The first trial had finally arrived. The stadium was set up a few miles away from the school. Apparently, this trial had something to do with dragons. They have to get a golden egg from the creature.

Alya looked around to see that the Weasley twins were placing and taking bets. As the crowd waited for the event to start, the Ravenclaw noticed Hermione slip out of the crowd and into the champion’s tent. Presumably to speak with Harry.

All of a sudden, a cannon shoots a cannonball. The first person up was Cedric Diggory. People around the arena chanted his name as he stepped out of the tent. The dragon he faced was a Swedish Short-Snout. He transforms a rock into a dog in an effort to distract the dragon as he retrieved the golden egg. The plan works for the most part, but the giant beast soon turns its attention back to the Hufflepuff. Cedric narrowly escapes the dragon’s fire as he manages to finally snatch the golden egg.

The second person to appear out of the tent was Fleur Delacour. Her dragon was a Common Welsh Green. She charmed the beast to sleep. As the girl got closer to the egg, the dragon snores and breathed fire, catching her skirt aflame. After quickly putting it out, she retrieved the egg. 

Next, was Viktor Krum. The dragon he faced was Chinese Fireball. He used the Conjunctivitis curse on it, making it blind. The plan was good in theory, but the poor beast managed to smash half of her eggs while stumbling about. So, even though he completed the task, he was docked points.

Finally, it was Harry’s turn. His dragon was a Hungarian Horntail. He didn’t seem to really have a plan, as he hid from it behind the rocks. Eventually, he used a summoning charm to summon his Firebolt broom. He tried to fly past the dragon and snatch the golden egg that way. His first attempt was thwarted, however, as the tail of the beast nearly got him. Next, Harry managed to get it to chase him out of the arena. Moments later, he came back and snatched it. The dragon following close behind.

Harry and Viktor tied for first, Cedric got second place, and Fleur got third. 

The Gryffindors were all ecstatic.

* * *

The next day, during the break between classes, Harry and Alya found themselves walking through the forest.

When they got to the lake, they decided to stop. “I really wish Lupin had stayed,” Alya told him as she sat down on the grass.

“Yeah?” The boy asked as he sat down next to her.

“Yeah. I’m not sure if I like Moody much.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah…” Alya glanced at the grass while Potter looked away. The two of them slipped into a comfortable silence, before Alya spoke again. “Hey, Harry?”

“Yeah?” His eyes locked with hers.

“You remember last year when I told you when I would be ready to tell you my story?”

Harry hesitated before saying, “You know, you don’t have to. I’m okay with not knowing.”

“No, it’s okay. I want to. Besides, the entire Wizarding World knows about your past. Maybe it’d be nice for you to know about someone else’s.”

Harry smiled in her thoughtfulness. Perhaps this would be a good idea. He was going to ask her about it at some point. He couldn’t not be curious about it after the dementor attack last year, and how she put herself into a maze of nightmares because of it. Even when her adoptive father tells him there are similarities. Even when Lupin mentioned to both of them that they aren’t weak, and that the dementors go after the two of them because of their dark and difficult pasts filled horrors their classmates wouldn’t really want to imagine. But, the boy didn’t want to force, or ask her to say something. He was just going to let her decide when she was ready. “Okay,” he allowed.

“Alright,” Alya stated as she switched to an American accent. “Before we continue,” Harry looked at her strangely. No one has really heard her speak in that accent, unless you count her adoptive father, Stephen Strange, and her uncle Wong. Marcella only heard it for a small moment though. “I should tell you... that I am American. I was born in New York. At age three, I could tell that something was strange about myself and my mother. No one else around us could turn into birds. Then, one day, this man from the Magic Circus barges in, and demands that my mother pay off a debt by becoming an attraction in the circus. They refuse. He actually ends up killing both of them, and takes me with him.

“For three years, I stayed with him, before finally running away. It is then that I run into a man named Doctor Strange. He offered me help, food, and shelter. Eventually, he decided to adopt me and teach me the ways of the Mystic Arts. I ended up spending most of my time in our London house, and have since gained a London accent. By the time I was eleven, a Hogwarts acceptance letter came through the post. Now I’m here.”

A small moment of silence passed between the two of them. “How-“ Harry hesitated. “How does it feel? To be a bird I mean.”

“How does it feel to fly on a broomstick?” She questioned him. That seemed to answer his question as he smiled.

“So… since you are a maledictus,” Harry continued in his questioning. “Do you know how long you have before you fully become a peregrine falcon?”

“Honestly?” She responded. “No. I have no possible way of knowing. Although, I know it would be coming soon when the animal side of me starts to get more and more out of my control.” She then grasped her pendant. “The gem tells me not to transform as much. But, I can’t help what I love to do.”

“Your pendant speaks to you?” 

“Yeah. Remember what I told you last year? Ancient artifact? Ancient magic?”

“Oh,” he remembers. “Right. Of course.” Both of their minds seem to wander off as neither speak for another minute or so. 

Alya then speaks, still using her American accent. “Still, when the time comes for that to happen… I don’t know. Sometimes I feel fine that I’m going to end up like that. Other times, I’m so scared.” Harry looks to her, only to find her eyes wandering over the lake. “I mean, I’d lose my entire sense of self. I’d just be a bird for the remainder of my lifetime. Or, _it’s_ lifetime, really.” The boy frowns, but then puts his arm around her to side-hug her. Inadvertently bringing her closer. Her head resting on his shoulder.

“I get scared too sometimes,” the boy admits. “That maybe Voldemort would come back.” Alya looked up at him and gave him a sympathetic look. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it just me or do these chapters seem really short? Sorry about that.


	14. Year Four part Five: Before the Yule Ball

It was the middle of November. The snow had started to fall onto the ground. December was nearing. Christmas was on its way. Yet, something else was to grace the halls of Hogwarts. People around the school spoke of the Yule Ball. It comes along with the TriWizard tournament. Unlike a lot of the girls, Alya wasn’t all that excited for it. She already knows how to dance anyway. Thanks to people at the grand monastery of Mystic Arts in Asia. Although, Stephen and Wong had also taught her. 

They even sent her two different dresses for the ball. One was a navy blue off the shoulder dress with a sweetheart neckline, lace and tulle top, silver belt and satin skirt. It’s floor-length. The other dress was also floor length with a short-sleeved dark purple tulle dress. It also has a sweetheart neckline with a high waisted silver belt, accompanied by silver sparkles going down the skirt of the dress.

In their dorm, Marcella talked and talked about the ball. Who would even go, who try to skip out, what color to even wear? Alya honestly wasn’t paying all that much attention. “Who do you think people will go out with?” she asked her.

“Well,” Alya contemplated. They both were on their beds. Alya sat at the edge of her’s facing Marcella’s while the ladder laid down horizontally head facing the ceiling. “I’ve heard that Harry has a crush on Cho Chang-”

“Really?” questioned Marcella, turning herself over to face her friend without blood rushing to her head. “I thought that he might ask you out.”

Alya’s face scrunched in confusion as her head went back slightly. “Why would you think that?”

“Oh, well, it’s just that, you two have been spending a lot of time together. During breaks, the two of you would always go somewhere. I never followed you though.”

“Oh no,” Alya denied. “We’re just friends. That boy’s got his heart set on Cho.” Marcella pouted, making Alya laugh a little and smile. “What about you, huh? Got any boy in mind?”

The teen hummed, bringing her pointer finger to her chin in thought as she looked up. “Not really.” Then a realization came to her. “Ugh,” her back flopped onto her pillows. “My folks haven’t even sent me a dress yet… Actually, I don’t know if we have enough money for something of this occasion. I’m not sure if I can even go.”

Alya got off her bed and walked towards her wardrobe. “Well then, it’s a good thing that Stephen sent me two,” she stated as she opened the doors to reveal two dresses. One hanging on each door via hook.

Marcella gasped as she got off her bed. “How did you sneak these in here?” she asked as she inspected the dresses. Alya did actually sneak both dresses in by just using a portal while Marcella wasn’t in the room or her general vicinity. 

“Portals,” Alya stated simply. She then stepped back to inspect the dresses from a distance. “I think I’m going to wear the blue one. You can have the purple one.” 

Smilovici’s eyes brightened as she walked towards her roommate. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Cortez smiled as the other one brought her into a tight hug.

“Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome.” After a few seconds, Alya pulled away. “Hey, Marcy?”

“Yeah?” Her friend questioned, noticing Alya’s serious face. Her own creased in confusion.

“If no one asks either of us, can we go together?”

“Of course.”

* * *

During the next three weeks, as Alya hung out in the library reading things that they aren’t currently studying, she noticed a certain Slytherin draw ever closer.

Although, sometimes, Pansy would be with him and they’d end up farther away from her versus when he’s alone. Alya could tell that Draco wanted at least something from her, while Pansy just wants him all to herself. When with her fellow Ravenclaw, Marcella’s told her that she’s seen it too.

Today was one of those days.

Alya had arrived first at the library. Next, it was Draco and Pansy. As per usual with her in his company, she dragged him away from the Ravenclaw. He looked back at her several times. After the two of them got out of her sight, she saw Viktor Krum enter with the usual amount of Six-year women following him in asking for his autograph written in their lipstick. Then, Hermione came in. She rolled her eyes at all the commotion the six-years were creating. 

Then something unusual happened. Krum drove the girls away by yelling at them, earning a shoosh from Madam Prince. The Durmstrang then walked over to where Hermione was seen heading.

Moments later, Granger walked up to the raven with an unusual pep in her step.

“Hello ‘moine,” Alya greeted cheerfully. The Gryffindor was all smiles. “What’s got you all smiley?”

“Viktor Krum,” she said as if she was in love with the Durmstrang boy.

“And has Viktor Krum,” Cortez said the name in the exact same way as she did. “Caught your eye?”

“Yes,” she said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “But,” she stated in a quieter voice. “I want to keep this under wraps. I don’t want Harry and Ron to find out.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Good.” 

The Ravenclaw looked around to see Pansy leave. Here comes the real test. Will Draco move to be nearer to Alya? Or not. It seemed like he would as the blonde came around the shelves but Hermione pulled Alya back into focus.

“Can we talk about this elsewhere?” Hermione asked her, standing up and looking at the Slytherin prince. Knowing that the Gryffindor hated him, she accepted, giving the boy an apologetic look.

Once they were out of the library and onto the wooden bridge, Alya asked, “So, I’m guessing the both of you have mutual feelings towards each other?”

“Yes we do,” Granger answered.

“Then why do I sense reluctance?” Cortez turned to her friend. “To tell Ron and Harry even.”

“I-I’m not sure I can explain it.” ‘Moine’s gaze fixed itself onto the trees in the ravine.

“The first thing that would come to their minds is that you don’t want to tell them because Harry and Viktor are competitors,” the Maledictus considered, also turning her gaze down to the ravine.

“You think this goes to a deeper level?” 

Their eyes met each others'.

“You don’t?”

“I-I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“If you know then why are you questioning?” The brunette’s voice raised.

“I’m only speculating. Besides, I thought you didn’t really like him due to all the other girls fawning over him because of his fame.”

“Yeah, well, it looks like I had you fooled.” Granger smiled, making Alya half-smile. “Besides, in the library, he told me that he’s only been going into the library to try and talk to me.”

“Aww.” The two then talked about how long the girl’s been admiring the Quidditch player. They first met at the game she went to with Harry and the Weasleys. A venue which ended up getting attacked by Death eaters. Hermione spoke about the glances they gave each other whenever in the same vicinity, the little awkward hi’s. If nothing else, Alya now ships them.

* * *

The day after that in the library, Draco manages to come unaccompanied. He grabs a book and sits three seats away from the Ravenclaw. Alya looks up from her personal copy of The Giver. “What are you doing?” she asks him quietly.

“What do you mean?” he asks, trying to act oblivious.

“Every time you come in here alone, you come to sit near me. Every time Pansy accompanies you, it seems like she forces you to sit far away from me and close to her,” Alya explained. She then placed her bookmark in the desired pages and shut the book before placing it on the table.

Draco sighed. “To be honest I’ve been trying to talk to you.”

“Obviously.” She fixes her posture. “What do you want?”

“Just to get away from Slytherins,” he said quietly, looking over his shoulder for any of his house.

“Really? The Prince of Slytherin wants to get away from his kingdom?” Alya half taunted. “Isn’t that what you said to Marcella and I about Crabe and Goyle last year in the carriage?”

He shifted in his seat. “Why is it so hard to believe?”

“Well, for starters, they hang around you all the time. Not to mention that Pansy seems like she wants to get in your pants,” the Ravenclaw stated in a flat tone.

“Unwanted attention,” he replied quicker that she thought he would. The girl quirked an eyebrow. “Everyone always pays attention to the fact that I come from some rich prominent pureblood family.”

Understanding his unspoken meaning, her eyes widen then scrunch up. “If you want to truly be set apart from your father, then what is your actual stance on muggles and half-bloods?” 

“I think they’re alright,” he said after some small moment of silence.

“You know, I almost find it hard to believe, but your eyes tell me that you’re telling the truth dead on.” Alya leaned forward in her chair, looking him dead in the seeing orbs. “So then, I’m guessing you’re forced to spout everything your father says to… keep appearances of the family name and whatever’s associated with it?”

“Something like that yeah.”

“And why are you letting me of all people reveal this about yourself?”

“I could have told a Hufflepuff, I really could of, they’re loyal as hell. But, you’re a Ravenclaw and you people know how to properly do things.”

“Gee it’s almost as if even though we were sorted into different groups because of how we are, it’s almost as if we have our own personalities, thoughts, and minds.”

Draco snickered. “There’s the Ravenclaw,” he said before leaning back in his chair. “My dad’s making me go to the dance with Pansy by the way.”

“Oh no, you poor soul,” Alya sarcastically stated, earning a smile from the prince. Just then, Alya saw Pansy bear the corner and sat up straight, going back to her book. 

“Draco, what are you doing?” The dark-haired Slytherin whispered, pulling him out of his seat. “Come on.”

Alya just rolled her eyes at them. On the way out of the library, she checked the Calendar. Only two weeks away from the ball. She and Draco briefly glanced at each other as she passed. The Raven decided not to tell Marcella about this.


	15. Year Four part six: The Yule Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been kind of a while, hasn't it?  
> Anyway, this chapter will be a bit short. Sorry. I wanted the ball to be by itself.

When the night of the Yule ball came, Alya and Marcella arrived together. They clapped along as the competitors of the tournament danced with their partners. When it was everyone else’s time to dance, and the two girls went on the floor, they swapped roles of the dance so that both could be lifted and twirled at some point. Then came the DJ and everyone danced like they would if they were in this century. 

When the two girls were tired of dancing, they stood off to the side. That’s when Alya noticed a strange blue beetle on one of the walls. She didn’t pay it any mind though. What she did pay attention to was a part of the golden trio’s conversation. Hermione asked, “Would you care to join us?”

Ron shifted slightly. “No, we’d not care to join you and Viktor.”

“What’s gotten your wand in a knot?” Granger asked him. Harry started to look uncomfortable.

“He’s a Durmstrang,” Ron half-whispered, bringing his face closer to the two of them. “You’re fraternizing with the enemy.”

“The enemy?” Who was it wanting his autograph?” The ginger boy sat back down as she continued speaking. “Besides the whole point of the tournament is international, magical cooperation. To make friends.”

“I think he’s got a bit more than friendship on his mind,” Ron concludes. Hermione just stood up and walked away, only turning to try and say something, but she stopped herself from doing that and kept going. Ron decided to follow. 

That’s when the two Ravenclaws go up to Harry.

“Hey, Alya, Marcella,” Harry greeted. “You both look pretty.”

The dark-haired Ravenclaw smiled before countering, “And therefore we have value?” The Boy Who Lived just stared as he tried to think of something to say. To that, the Maledictus smiled. “Don’t worry,” she said sitting down. “You look pretty too.” At that, Harry smiled a bit.

“Tough luck with the love birds?” Marcella asked as she sat down.

“You think that Ron, and Hermione-?” He didn’t finish. Alya sat down on the other side.

“He does like her, on some level, but I think what was stopping him from asking her to the ball was that he thought of her as brains and nothing else,” Alya thought through out loud.

“Really? How come I’ve never noticed before?” The dark-haired boy asked, looking between the two.

“You didn’t think to,” Marcella told him. What she wasn’t going to say is that most if not all boys are clueless about this sort of thing.

“I should probably stop them from fighting,” Harry said as he got up. 

“Good luck,” Alya said to him as he rushed off. The two girls didn’t see him for the rest of the night. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Alya saw Draco and Pansy kiss, but it was only brief. She didn’t look at him again until he came up to them asking, “Mind if I have a dance with her?”

The mousy haired girl looked to Alya who nodded, letting her know that things would be alright.

“So, am I to suspect that Pansy’s kiss was unwanted?” Alya asked him. The dances have now reverted to ballroom dancing. The Slytherclaw pair joined in. Marcella watched them from a chair.

“You would assume correctly, Raven,” Draco confirmed. He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, “Or should I say Peregrine?”

“So now you bring that up?” She questioned in the same tone. “What do you want?”

“I like you, you know. As a friend of course.”

“Of course,” Alya repeated. “I don’t think your father would be happy about this,” she noted as he spun her.

“I don’t think he’ll find out.”

“And if he does?”

“I won’t let anything happen. I swear it. You are not at fault here.”

“Aren’t I? For tempting you to like people outside your house?”

“I won’t let them think that.”

“You can’t force people not to think.”

When the song ended, the Slytherin prince smiled at her in goodbye and exited the room.

The dark-haired Raven stared at the dance floor for a solid minute before getting up in front of her and holding out her hand, asking, “Mind if I have this dance fair lady?”

“But of course good sir,” Marcella jokes. She took her hand and they went for one final dance. This was to be the slow dance of the evening.


	16. Year Four part seven: The Second Task

The day after, Harry, Hermione, and Alya were talking on the wooden bridge.

“Okay, so how long have you actually been trying to figure out this egg?” Alya questioned.

“For weeks, like ‘Mione told me to,” he blurted out.

“You told me that you figured it out weeks ago,” Hermione corrected. 

“Really? I had no idea,” the Chosen One sarcastically deadpanned. He leaned over the railing like Hermione, their hands dangling off the edge. Alya kept hers at her side.

“I suppose Viktor has already figured it out,” Harry said out loud.

“Well I wouldn’t know,” Granger informed. “Seeing as we don’t actually talk about the tournament… actually we don’t really talk at all. Viktor’s more of a physical being.” Alya’s eyes widened, but she soon let it go. Realizing what she said, the Gryffindor sighed, saying, “I just mean he’s not particularly loquacious.”

Loquacious; adjective; meaning full of excessive talk, wordy.

“Of course,” Alya stated in a teasing manner.

She sighed again, saying, “Mostly, he watches me study. It’s annoying actually.”

Alya and Harry both looked at her with smiles. 

“You are trying to figure this egg out aren’t you?” The brunette student questioned.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Harry questioned as the smile faded away from his face.

“Harry,” Alya spoke. “This test is _supposed_ to _test_ you in some of the most brutal ways. Forgive us for worrying about you.”

“You got through the dragon’s mostly unnerved,” Hermione told him. “I’m not sure that will be enough this time.”

“Hey, Potter!” Cedric called from behind them. “Potter! He tried again. 

The fourth-year met the older student with a, “Hello Cedric.”

Alya then turned to Hermione and said, “I’m going to go. Bye,” she said as she hugged Granger. “By Harry!” She called out, not looking at him. 

“Bye, Alya!” Harry yelled as she walked away.

Whatever the next challenge is, it will be quite interesting. The first trial had death by fire. What if the next one was death by water? Whatever it will be, she’ll see it for herself in about three days.

* * *

The day of the trial had arrived. People were gathering on boats. Alya’s hunch was right: trial by fire would be followed with trial by water. As people headed down, Marcella and her roommate spotted the Weasley twins again taking and putting down bets for profit.

The boats were lead to this giant wooden structure filled with bleachers and a diving platform, high in the air. The students took their seats. A large black and gold clock stood tall above the waters.

“Hey, Marcella, have you seen Hermione?” Alya asked as she scanned the crowd.

“No, why?” The mousy brown haired girl asked, now twisting her head around and leaning every-which-way in an attempt to locate the Gryffindor.

“It wouldn’t be like her to miss this,” Cortez told.

“I don’t see her,” Smilivici stated.

“Welcome to the second task,” Dumbledore’s voice projected. “Last night, something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These four treasures for each champion now lay at the bottom of the Black Lake. In order to win, each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface.” 

How Alya could tell that the champions had lined up, people started cheering. Of course, it was only a guess. They most likely stood on the platform in the middle, closest to the water.

“Simple enough,” Dumbledore kept talking, “except for this, they will have one hour to do so, and one hour only. After that, they’ll be on their own. No magic will save them. You may begin at the start of the canon.” The weapon boomed and the champions hit the water.

The cheering died down as people patiently waited for the champions to rise again. Then, it became silent. About half an hour in, it looked like Flyer emerged from the water and climbed out with nothing. It was announced that “The Beauxbatons champion, Miss Delacour, has unfortunately been forced to retire. So, she will take no further part in this task.”

Murmurs begin to spread around the people in the boxes. At the forty minute mark, Cedric emerged out of the water with Cho. They swam back to the platform. Next, Viktor emerged with Hermione, they swam back. His head changed from that of a shark’s back to a human’s. Finally, just after the clock hit sixty, Ron and a girl who looked to be Fleur’s sister swam to the platform. That was who she was supposed to save.

After a few minutes more, Harry shot out of the water and landed on the platform sideways. He must have cast Ascendio on himself.

People started cheering for their champions, as the judges went over the events of the trial. Finally, Dumbledore announced, “Attention! The winner is, Mr. Diggory.” All of the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaw’s on his side cheered. The Gryffindors and Slytherins clapped. “Who showed I ate command of the bubble-head charm. However, seeing as Mr. Potter would have finished first, had it not been for his determination to rescue, not only Mr. Weasley but another as well. We’ve agreed to award him... second place!” Most people, especially the Gryffindors cheered. “For outstanding moral fiber.”

Alya sort of spaced out as third and fourth place was called. She heard the gem whisper some spell, but nothing happened.

“Alya, are you alright?” Marcella asked her, bringing her out of her space out session.

“Yeah, why?” Alya responded.

“Nothing, it’s just, you spaced out.”

“I’m alright, we’ll talk later in our room, yeah?” The dark-haired Ravenclaw suggested.

On the boat ride back, they heard people go on and on about the trial. Alya felt tired of it already. Even Stranger, however, is that a ministry official, who came to watch, awaited for Harry Potter to speak with him. The Ravenclaws have no interest in what he has to say, so they walk past them.

The rest of the day was filled with classes, lunch, and some downtime before dinner. 

When they get back to the dorm, Alya and Marcella sat themselves down on their beds. The two had just finished getting into Pajamas. The Latina took out her necklace and showed it to her roommate. “Have I ever told you what this is?”

Marcella’s brows scrunched together as her form leaned closer in an attempt to get a better look before getting up to see it closer. “No, I don’t believe you have.”

“Alright, well,” Alya places the gem back underneath her shirt. Smilovici’s posture straightened. “Basically, there was this realm, alright? Called Azarath. And in Azarath, lived a half-demon child named Raven. When she was about thirteen, she accidentally unleashed her father, the demon lord Trigon onto the ‘verse. In an effort to save her realm, she encased it’s entirety in this Charoite gem, casting her father out and into the void. It’s believed that either her magic, or the realm’s magic is what makes it an artifact, but one thing, at least for myself, Wong, and Stephen, is that half of Raven’s soul is trapped in there, while the other half was reincarnated into me. That’s why it chose me to be its guardian.”

Marcella’s hands were brought together and she started cracking them. “Is that why I can catch you sleep talking in Latin and other languages sometimes during the night?”

“I do that?” Cortez looked up at her roommate.

“I’ve only heard it a few times, they were basically nonsensical phrases.”

“I see.” She averted her gaze

“So, is the gem why you spaced out?”

“Yeah. I have no idea what spell it was, or even what kind of spell it was. Nothing happened at the trial.”

“Right, well, whatever it was, it could very well have been nothing. Not a thing happened at the trial, right?”

“Right.” At that confirmation, Marcy moved to her bed and went under the covers. 

“Goodnight,” the mousy haired one said. “Try not to let it bother you.”

“I’ll try,” said Alya. It took her a while to drift off into sleep.


	17. Year Four part eight: Rita and the Third Trial

A few weeks after the second trial, the third was set for a few weeks after today. On the break during the school day, Alya and Harry were on another one of those walks. Noticing that Harry seemed distracted, she asked, “What’s on your mind?” Turning her head around to see him.

“Nothing, just-“ he debated on telling her. His eyes were mostly downcast with the occasional glance.

“You can tell me, you know. My lips are forever sealed,” she said as she stopped walking.

He sighed. “Don’t ask me how I know,” he resumed walking. Alya followed closely. “but there was this trial that Dumbledore and Moody were in the audience of. The headmaster of Durmstrang was on trial for being a Death Eater.”

“Really?” Alya questioned. “Huh.” She thought that there was something shady about him, but also just wanted to think that he’s just some awesome Russian wizard. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes people deserve that.

“Anyway,” Harry continued with the story. “He started listing names of other death eaters in an effort to save himself.”

“And?”

“And one of the names was Severus Snape.”

Alya's steps stopped, she took hold of his arm, which stopped him. “You’re sure?”

“It was clear as day. Then, Dumbledore said that he was a spy for Hogwarts…”

“And?”

“The people started talking, and Barty Crouch Sr. called the court to order. He was about to send Igor away when he said he could give the name of the person who tortured the Auror, Frank Longbottom, by way of the cruciatus curse. He said, Barty Crouch JR., that ministry official's son. He was there at the trial and attempted to escape but they trapped him and put him in jail.”

“But that’s not all, is it?”

“No, not it’s not. When I was walking back from Dumbledore’s office, I saw Snape and the Durmstrang headmaster talking about the mark.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, the Durmstrang headmaster stepped out as soon as they saw me. I was just about to leave when Snape told me to come in. He asked about the gillyweed and then showed me some truth serum and that he knew my friends and I were making a certain potion. He said he’d find out why.”

“Was this the potion that you guys brewed in your second year?”

Harry stopped. “How did you know?”

“I notice things.” There was a pause before she added, “I knew you were brewing some kind of potion, I just didn’t know what it was, and I don’t really want to know.” 

They came up to the part of the edge of the lake where there’s a hill. Even after Lupin left, this was still their spot. The students sat down.

Human’s silence relaxed them for a while as they just sat there and listened to nature. The lake always looked beautiful.

“Hey, Alya?” Harry asked. The Ravenclaw turned to him to see the boy looking at her. Their eyes locked.

“Yeah?” She responded

“If I had asked you to the dance, would you have said yes?”

Alya brought her seeing orbs away from his to think it over. “Probably.” She said nothing more for a few minutes before rising to her feet. “Hey, um, good luck, for the third trial.”

“That’s not for weeks,” he said as he too got up.

”I know, just good luck.”

”thank you.”

* * *

A few weeks later, this morning was a double class of potions. After that, Pansy and a couple of Slytherin girls waited outside the classroom to confront Hermione and Alya.

“Have you both read this?” Pansy asked, with a smile on her face. She held a copy of the latest _Daily Prophet_ article.

“No,” Hermione said with caution as she took the newspaper from the Slytherin. Alya leaned in closer to read it as well. The caption read _Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache and Possible Double Love Triangle._

Rita Skeeter wrote: 

A boy like no other, perhaps -- yet a boy suffering from all the usual pangs of adolescence. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.

Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker, and hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boy’s affections. Krum, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and he has “never felt this way about another girl.”

However, it might not be Miss Granger’s doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boy’s interests.

“She’s really ugly,” says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, “but she’d be well up to making a Love Potion, she’s quite brainy. I don’t think that’s how she’s doing it.”

Love potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter seems to have gotten himself another girlfriend. Muggle-raised half-blood, Alya Cortez.

”She’s prettier than Hermione, I’ll give her that,” Pansy told. “But I don’t think that she even needed a love potion. She _is_ a Ravenclaw after all. She’s got both Draco and Harry under her thumb.”

This Ravenclaw was once thought to be the secret girlfriend of Draco Malfoy. They danced together in the Yule Ball and hung out in the library quite often. Alas, Harry managed to capture her heart. The two have been seen by the lake on multiple occasions in between classes. Could she be a worthier candidate for Harry’s affections? Or is she trying to get back at Draco? Only time will tell.

Hermione and Alya looked at each other before Granger shoves the paper back into Pansy’s hands and storms off saying, “If that’s the best Rita can do, she’s losing her touch.”

Alya quickly walked after her. Once they were away from everyone else, Hermione pulled her Ravenclaw friend aside asking, “You danced with Draco?” a bit of anger showed in her voice.

“Yes, I did,” Alya admitted. Hermione left before the fact, so of course, she wouldn’t have known.

“Why?” questioned the Gryffindor, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.

“Whether you choose to believe this or not, Draco isn’t as bad as he makes himself out to be. He’s only like this because of his parents. He grew up with an ego installed in him by his father. His aunt is Bellatrix Lestrange for crying out loud. His father’s pride oversteps his ability to be an actual father. He would much rather his son keep up the appearances of the so-called royal Slytherin family. His mother does nothing about it. Draco mimics Lucious’s behavior because it’s all he has.”

Hermione really tried to bite back the tears. “I don’t know how you can believe that,” she said as she walked away. Alya didn’t try to stop her.

Cortez then wondered if that reporter had seen Alya in her maledictus form. It could very well have happened once already, given that the reporter does have a knack for snooping around way too much. Mayhaps she shouldn’t go flying as often.

__________

the third and final trial had arrived. It’s been quite a while since Rita’s story about Harry, Hermione, and Alya. The only people in the school it seems to really have affected is Hermione. During the months before the third trial, she didn’t talk to her Ravenclaw friend, and Alya couldn’t blame her.

The stadium sat right in front of a giant hedge maze. The band played percussion as the champions stepped into the ring. Cedric and his father were the first to step out. The crowd cheered. The next to step out was Fleur. Members of her school had a cheer routine going. After her, was Viktor. He stepped out with his headmaster. His school cheered, along with others. Alya wasn’t surprised to find that Crabe had written Krum on his forehead. Finally, Harry stepped out with Dumbledore.

They all stood around facing the crowd as Dumbledore went to the podium. He projected, “Sonorus!” Everyone became quiet. The band abruptly stopped. “Earlier today, Professor Moody placed the TriWizard cup deep within the maze. Only he knows it’s exact position. Now, as Mr. Diggory and Mr. Potter tie for first position, they will be the first to enter the maze. Followed by Mr. Krum and Miss Delacour.” The crowd cheered as each name was called. Moody could be seen exiting the maze through the entrance. “The first person to touch the cup will be the winner. I’ve instructed the staff to patrol the perimeter. Should at any point a contestant wish to withdraw from the task, he or she need only send up red sparks with their wand.” 

“Contestants?” Dumbledore called as he turned around. He stepped off the podium. “Gather around. Quickly.” They did. What was said to them was inaudible to the audience. Alya guessed he was telling them what to expect, or at least, what not to expect.

The Champions dispersed slightly as the headmaster stepped back, projecting, “Champions! Prepare yourselves.” They each went to one entrance of the maze. Harry went to the one Moody stood by. Before Cedric got to his, his dad hugged him tightly. Harry nodded to the other Hogwarts champion. He nodded back. “On the count of three,” Dumbledore continued. “One-“ Filch let the cannon fire early. Wordlessly, the contestants went into the maze. The percussion band started playing again. After maybe thirty seconds, the entrance closed up. The maze can move.

“Who do you think will get to the cup first?” Marcella asked. Hermione and Alya were sitting on either side of her. Ron sat right next to Hermione. Normally, it probably would have been Hermione sitting in the middle of Alya and Marcella. 

“Honestly?” Responded Alya. “I have no idea. The maze has got to be huge. I bet they can’t hear the music anymore.”

“‘Mione?” Marcella asked her.

“I can’t choose either,” she told them.

After a while, the music died down and people waited in silence. 

Alya looked over at Hermione, who’s leg was bouncing nervously. “I can’t promise you that everything’s going to be fine, Hermione,” she said. “Some people will probably get hurt, and that includes Harry and Viktor.”

“I’m not nervous about them,” Hermione stated without looking at her. “I know that they probably won’t come out of this unscathed, but, I’m more nervous about the fact that we used to be such good friends.” Alya leaned forward to face her and see that ‘Moine was doing the same. “We used to talk a lot, and I miss it. I don’t want Draco to be the reason we drift apart. Can we be friends again?”

“Of course we can,” Alya stated with the kindest of faces, making Hermione smile. 

“Blimey,” said Ron. “That took a while.” It exactly took three months for them to talk to each other. Both girls looked at him. “What?”

“Shall we take our revenge on Rita?” Alya asked the brunette Gryffindor.

“Of course,” Granger replied.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry emerged to the stadium with the cup and Cedric. Only, Cedric didn’t look good. Everyone started cheering.

That’s when Hermione, Alya, and Marcella realize that the cup was a portkey. They know Harry, and he wouldn’t have killed Cedric. The cup most have teleported them to a dangerous place.

Alya apparated right to him. “Harry-“ she tried. 

The Boy Who Lived interrupted her, angry. “You told me Wormtail was dead!”

Alya’s eyes widened. So, the rat managed to escape the troll. “Harry,” her voice was gentle. “I’m so sorry.”

“Can you heal him?” Harry asked her in a rushed tone. It was spoken in a low tone, as if he didn’t want the audience to know yet. “Can you heal him with your pendant?” His hold became tighter on the Hufflepuff.

“No,” she said in the same tone. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I can’t heal someone who’s dead. The pendant doesn’t work like that.” He gave her a death glare and seemed ready to explode on her.

Other people started to gather around. It seemed only a few people realized what was wrong. Cedric wasn’t moving. The music was still playing.

Dumbledore came up to him. One of the Beauxbatons screamed. Alya saw Hagrid’s clapping stop. 

The headmaster tried to pry Harry off of the body, but it didn’t work. “For god sakes Dumbledore, tell me what happened,” someone said, presumably Barty Crouch Sr.

“He’s back,” Harry said in wavering tone. “He’s back. Voldemort’s back.” Everyone surrounding him quieted down. Panic settled in the Boy Who Lived. “Cedric, he asked me to bring his body back. I couldn’t leave him. Not there.” 

Dumbledore touched his cheek, saying, “It’s alright, Harry, it’s alright.” The boy sobbed. “He’s home, you both are.”

The ministry official, Barty Crouch Sr. ordered the staff to keep everyone in their seats. Although he tried to say it quieter, due to the silence of everyone else around him, they all heard him say, “A boy has just been killed.” Everyone gasped. Snape had to grab Alya’s arm and pull her back into the bleachers. 

“The body must be moved, Dumbledore,” the ministry official urged only a failed whisper. “Too many people.” Harry was still holding Cedric’s body and sobbing. 

All of a sudden, a man came down the steps yelling, “Let me through! Let me through!” He sounded so incredibly sad. “That’s my son!” He yelled as he got to the ground. He stood there looking at his boy’s lifeless body. “It’s my boy!” He sobbed. He repeated it as his knees gave in, making him fall to the ground. 

Moody pulled Harry away from the scene.


	18. Year Four part nine: The Funeral, and the Train Ride home

A few days later, the great hall’s tables were turned into benches, all facing the Head Master’s chair. Everyone from Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons came for the funeral. 

Dumbledore sat in his chair as he said, “Today, we acknowledge a really terrible loss.” The old man stood. “Cedric Diggory was, as you all know,” he said as he stepped towards the students and teachers, “exceptionally hard-working, infinitely fair-minded, and most importantly, a fierce, fierce friend. Now, I think, therefore, you have the right to know exactly how he died. You see,” he said as he stepped up to his podium. “Cedric Diggory was _murdered_ by Lord Voldemort.” The kids started looking around at each other.

“The ministry of magic does not wish me to tell you this,” the headmaster continued. “It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I had done so --- either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. But not to do so would be an insult to his memory. There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection to Cedric’s death. I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter.” Many of the students murmured. “He risked his own life to return Cedric’s body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him.” The headmaster raised his glass towards The Boy Who Lived. Wordlessly, everyone else did the same.

“Now, the pain we all feel at this dreadful loss reminds me… and reminds us… that we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one. In light of recent events, the bonds of friendship we made this year will be more important than ever. Remember that, and Cedric Diggory will not have died in vain. You remember that… and we’ll celebrate a boy who was kind and honest and brave and true. Right to the very end.”

* * *

Harry hasn’t really spoken to Alya in all that time. So, when everyone said goodbye to the Beauxbatons and the Durmstrangs, Harry only felt like speaking to one person. He found her sitting on the edge of the railing in the courtyard. Everyone else was waving goodbye to the other people.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

“Hey,” she repeated. 

Silently, he went to sit next to her and apologize. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you, or give you the silent treatment, I just-“

“It’s alright Harry,” Alya interrupted him. “You were just upset, and angry. Even now I get the feeling that there’s a sense of loneliness in your heart because he isn’t here.” Like they have on so many other days, they sat there in silence. “I heard you met with Cedric’s parents. How’d that go?”

“It went well, surprisingly,” he said. “They don’t blame me for what happened, and they’re thankful to have his body. They also think that the ministry keeping their son’s death under wraps is the wrong call.”

Alya nodded. “Yeah, didn’t think they would allow him to go quietly.”

“I tried to give them some of my winnings, but they didn’t want any.”

“Really?” She looked at him with the kindest eyes. “That’s so sweet of you.”

“Look at you two,” Ron half-quipped alerting his presence to them. Granger was there as well.

“Hey Ron, Hey Hermione,” Alya greeted. Both Alya and the Chosen One kept off their perches to walk with the ginger to the balcony but stopped when they noticed Hermione standing still.

“Everything’s going to change now isn’t it?” The female Gryffindor asked.

Harry walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder as he nodded and said, “Yes.” Alya tried not to laugh.

The quartet watched as Durmstrang’s ship sunk and Beauxbatons’ carriage took flight.

* * *

In the train ride back to the station, the golden trio, and Marcella, and Alya were all sitting in the same booth. Harry had a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ on his lap.

“You won’t find anything about the third trial, Harry,” Alya informed. She sat right across from him.

“We’ve been checking every day, since the end of the tournament,” Hermione informed. She sat right next to him. “There’s nothing. Nothing about you winning, nothing about Cedric, nothing about the third task at all. We suspect that Fudge had a hand in it.”

“I don’t think he’ll be able to Rita Skeeter quiet,” Ron said. “I mean, she’s Rita.”

“Actually,” Alya interjected.

“You got your revenge, didn’t you?” Marcella asked her roommate.

“Why yes, yes we did,” the dark-haired girl admitted.

“Revenge?” questioned Harry skeptically. “What revenge?” He was still in the maze when the two of them first discussed their plan.

“Remember that article she wrote about us three?” Hermione questioned him.

“Yeah… why?” His eyes squinted with curiosity and confusion.

“Well,” Alya began to explain. “After the tournament ended, we found out... that Rita Skeeter… is an unregistered animagus. She turns into a beetle. That’s how she got around undetected.”

After a few seconds of silence, Ron stated, “You’re joking.”

“No, we most certainly are not,” Alya told him. “We caught her on the windowsill of the hospital wing.” She then took a jar out of Hermione's bag. It had a blue beetle in it. “I took a picture of her with the Polaroid Stephen gave me, but it'd be better to show you in person. Notice how the markings on her antennae are exactly like her glasses?”

“Oh, you’re right,” said Harry, slightly weirded out that Rita was in a jar. He seemed to remember something. “Remember that beetle that was flying around in the Yule Ball? Was that her?”

“That was her,” Alya confirmed. 

“She only knew that Viktor invited me to his house this summer because she was the beetle Viktor pulled out of my hair after we’d had our conversation by the lake,” Hermione stated before taking the jar from Alya's hands and putting it back in her bag. “I’ve told her that I’ll let her out when we get back to London. I’ve put an unbreakable charm on the jar, you see, so she can't transform. And we’ve told her she's to keep her quill to herself for a whole year. See if she can't break the habit of writing horrible lies about people.”

The rest of the train ride was spent with candy and laughter. Strange was there to pick Alya up at the train station. She said her goodbyes and went with the doctor into the golden rimmed portal. Whatever will happen next year, she’s sure she can handle it.

  
  



	19. Year five part one: The Order

Alya and Stephen Strange have joined the Order of the Phoenix weeks ago. Since then, they had gone to meetings in the headquarters and such with the rest of the Order. Well, Stephen has, but Alya wasn’t allowed in. She did, however, get to hang out with Ron and the Weasley twins. Surprisingly to Alya, Snape is a part of the order.

Some of her stuff had just been left there on one of the beds upstairs due to her being over there so much. The same goes for Hermione.

The Ravenclaw was happy to see Padfoot and Moony again, but wasn’t sure about Moody. She knows that someone was impersonating him during the TriWizard Tournament but still...

Aly had just gone out for a fly around the city when she saw a bunch of people flying on brooms. Getting over the fact that the very idea was stupid due to muggles being everywhere, she noticed Harry, and Mad-Eye Moody, along with a bunch of other people she knew to belong to the Order of The Phoenix. An organization she joined weeks ago.

She decided to join up with them over the River. Her bird form disturbing no one as she joined the flock, passing Big Ben their way.

“Hey, Alya,” Harry greeted as he immediately recognized her Peregrine form.

When they got back onto the ground, she said hello back to him. Quietly, they crossed the street from the bunch of trees to the magical entrance to the house.

Mad Eye tapped the staff on the sidewalk three times, and the buildings around them shifted. Alya began to wonder if she was in the mirror dimension again. Doctor Strange had just begun teaching her about it. Per her attending Hogwarts, however, whenever she is home in the London Sanctuary, he will teach her the mystic arts.

“In ya go, son,” Mad Eye told Harry who marveled at the building.

“Come on Harry,” Alya urged, stepping up the steps. “Wouldn’t want to keep your godfather waiting. He has been wanting to see you.”

Snapping back into reality, he joined his classmate on the steps. She allowed him to enter the house first. Slowly, he opened the door to find people talking.

“Come on now,” Alya stated as she pushed past him. The boy picked up his speed.

The girl along with the rest of the group besides Harry made their way to the room at the end of the hall where everyone else spoke. Stephen was there too.

Harry saw Alya whisper something into Padfoot’s ear, and the man glanced up, finding his godson in his view.

Everyone quieted down for a moment before Ron’s mother went up to greet him.

The girl then glanced and waved at her adoptive father and mentor, Dr. Strange. He returned the gesture. Remembering that she wasn’t allowed to be in the room as the meeting was held, she ventured out into the rest of the house where Mrs. Weasley told her the rest of the kids would be.

As soon as both Harry and Alya entered the room, Hermione and Ron went to greet them. Both of whom paid particular attention to Harry, wondering about the dementor attack.

“Let the man breath Hermione,” Ron told her as Alya went to her stuff immediately.

“This gearing at the Ministry is just outrageous,” ‘Mione rambled on. “I’ve looked it up, they simply can’t expel you. It’s completely unfair.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed in a downbeat tone. “There’s a lot of that going around at the moment.”

“So what is this place?” Harry asked as he looked around the room.

“It’s headquarters,” Ron informed.

“Of The Order of The Phoenix,” Hermione cur in. “It’s a secret society. Dumbledore found it back when they first fought, You Know Who.”

“You couldn’t have put any of this in a letter, I suppose,” Harry told them. “I’ve gone all summer without a scrape of news.”

“We wanted to tell you mate, we really did,” Ron defended. “But-“

“But what-“ Harry asked before Hermione cut her off. Alya swears, sometimes Hermione can be annoying.

“Dumbeldore made us swear not to tell you anything.”

Potter took a moment before saying, “Dumbledore said that?” He was met with silence. “But why would he want to keep me in the dark? I could help. After all, I’m the one who saw Voldemort return. I’m the one who fought him, I’m the one who watched Cedric diggory get killed.”

Out of nowhere, the Weasley twins apparated into the room. One of them put his shoulder on Harry trying to scare him. They then told him something Alya chose not to pay attention to, as her mind wandered to the mystic arts. She began writing and drawing everything down in her journals so that she wouldn’t forget any of it. She noticed them leave, but didn’t care. The girl figured that they were going to attempt to listen in to the meeting going on downstairs.

The girl emerged when she heard shouting from Mrs. Weasley. “JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW DOES _NOT_ MEAN YOU HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERYTHING!”

The shouting was aimed at the twins. 

The girl then used the mystic arts trick that allowed her to the space around her into the space she wants to be in. The girl arrived in the dining room/kitchen with her notebook in hand, herself sitting in one of the chairs.

“Agreed, Mrs. Weasley,” Alya stated. The woman looked to Strange to say something about Alya’s use of mystic arts. Her eyes then lit up in surprise as she remembered something. She created a mini portal with her sling ring to get her pencil.

“Alya, not now,” her father told her as he sat down next to her. She sighed after she quickly wrote something down and reopened the tiny portal with her sling ring, dropping her book and pencil through it.

Through the walls, she heard Sirius and Remus greet Harry. More and more people started to sit down. Alya saw Ginny and Tonks talk, then the ginger laughing while the other showed off her metamorphagi talents. 

Molly sat at the end of the table, her kids and Hermione sitting near them. Next to Hermione sat Dean Thomas, then Harry, then Alya. Sirius sat at the head of the table, with Mr. Weasley on his right side, then Stephen Strange, then Lupin. Sitting next to Lupin (although two chairs away), were the Weasley twins.

The others talked about Harry and trial. “What’s the Ministry of Magic got against me?” The boy asked.

“Show ‘em,” Moody urged, the only one besides Molly to be standing. “He’ll find out soon enough.”

Dean Thomas, sitting next to Potter, was the one who showed him the newspaper. The captions read _THE BOY WHO LIES?_ And _FUDGE SAYS “ALL IS WELL.”_

“He’s been attacking Dumbledore as well,” Sirius told the group. He sat at the head of the table. “Fudge is using all his power, including his influence on _The Daily Prophet_ to smear anyone who claims the Dark Lord has returned.”

“Why?” Asked Harry.

“The minister thinks Dumbeldore’s after his job,” Lupin explained, sitting right across from the boy who lived.

* * *

When everyone staying at the house was asleep, only one person was having nightmares. That person just so happened to be Alya. Nightmares such as this one had increased since her third year at Hogwarts. (It’s her fifth year now). She never tells the people who wake her up what goes on in those dreams, or if she had, Stephen was the only person who she told them to. Aside from her adoptive father, no one really knows what has happened to make these dreams appear. She won’t tell them.

There are things she keeps closely guarded to her heart, secrets that only her closest friends know. Aside from Strange knowing all of them, Draco, (even though he isn’t a close friend and found out just by being nosy) Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, and Sirius know that she is a Maledictus. Only Hermione, Marcella (her roommate in the Ravenclaw tower), and Draco know about the London Sanctuary. Everyone in the order knows about Doctor Strange and the Mystic Arts due to Strange being a part of the order. Furthermore, despite a few people, such as, Hermione, Ron, Marcella, Lupin, and Draco knowing the basic things about her past, they don’t know what really happened to her. No one truly knows her past except for the keeper of those memories, and the man who took her in. 

All of those things are taken into account by Hermione whenever she’s with Alya and the girl’s having a nightmare. Especially when her head starts jerking in different directions and she’s yelling in Latin, Ancient Greek, and languages she didn’t even know existed and her voice starts to get echoey. Magic started going awry.

“Jesus Christ,” stated Ron as he was witnessing this for the first time. “And I thought Harry had really bad dreams.” Harry just stared at her in awe.

The two boys looked over to see Hermione using some muggle device. “What are you doing?” The Weasley boy asked.

“I’m paging her father,” she told them. The girl actually made a point of doing that after she first witnessed Alya having these types of nightmares.

Deciding to try and be somewhat helpful Harry went over to the Ravenclaw. “Alya, hey, wake up,” he said as she tried to wake her by nudging the girl. “Hey!” He tried louder this time. “Alya!” Nothing. “Alya!” He yelled louder. It was at this point that Strange came into the room via gold-rimmed portal, along with Lupin and Sirius rushing into the room.

Stephen ordered Harry to step aside, which he did. The master of the mystic arts then placed one hand on her forehead and one hand on her heart. “Awaken,” he said quietly.

She woke up with a start and a gasp. Strange sat down next to her. As soon as she calmed down, Stephen asked, “What did you see?”

“Trigon,” was all she said.

“Trigon?” Ron questioned, wondering what the hell was going on.

The air seemed to get unusually tense. Noticing this, Hermione walked up and asked the teen if she wanted to go get some water. The Ravenclaw agreed and the two girls went out of the room. 

“Lupin, remember when I told you about her amulet?” Stephen asked the man as he turned to see his face.

“Yes,” stated the werewolf. “Why?” 

Choosing to ignore the fact that the kids are back in the room, he explained, “That gem holds the knowledge and magic of the once-great realm of Azarath.” Alya sat back on her spot on the bed. “This necklace is said to encase the very destroyed realm itself and that the knowledge and magic comes from the girl who accidentally unleashed the demon lord Trigon upon the people.” He paused. “Whether that is true or not, we can’t really tell. It’s all speculation. Yet, Alya believes the souls of Azarath are trapped in there, or at the very least, the girl. She can hear them, or—her. Either which way, the necklace chose her to be its guardian. After Alya used it in her third year to fend of dementors, I feel as if it started to act like a beacon. She said that Trigon has tried to reach out to her, and see where she is, because for whatever reason, that demon wants this necklace.” He paused. “And for some reason, I cannot help but think that the only reason the gem attached itself to her is that there is indeed the girl who unleashed Trigon into Azarath trapped inside with half a soul. Making Alya the reincarnated other half.”

“And why would this demon lord want Alya and the pendant?” Sirius questioned, stepping closer into the room.

“Because the only reason the initial girl was born was to be a portal into this world, so that he can take it over,” Alya answered, her voice calm, yet slightly angered, there was a weight to it. She clutched the necklace, fiddling with it in her hand. After a moment of silence, and a moment of thinking on Alya’s part, the girl added. “If he gets to me, both of us,” she corrected. “He could use us as a portal, again, and we could die.”

“Alya,” Stephen said gently. “You know I won’t let that happen.”

“You won’t be able to stop him,” she told him, facing the man who sat on her bed.

“Sure I will,” Strange countered. “I stopped Dormammu, didn’t I?”

“By putting him and yourself in a time loop. That won’t work with Trigon.”

“Alya, we’re your friends,” Hermione stepped closer to the girl, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “We won’t let anything happen to you.” The Gryffindor’s arm dropped as she moved to sit on her bed.

“I-I can’t let you people be involved, I-“

“Perry-“ Sirius tried but was cut off by her. His arms unfolding.

“I don’t want you people to die! Not for me… I’ve already seen enough people die because of me.” Her voice broke a little. The Ravenclaw’s eyes started to get a little glossy.

“Your parents?” Harry questioned, suddenly wishing that he Hadn’t. Alya nodded with her head cast down towards the floor. He then stepped closer to her. “Do you know that I think the same thing?” That question made her look up at him.

The Ravenclaw sighed. “It’s always the chosen ones.” The girl then looked into Harry’s eyes and smiled slightly. He did the same.

“Alya, are you good to continue sleeping here for the night?” Stephen asked her.

“Yeah,” she stated, not moving from her spot.

“Okay. Good night,” the man said as he created and walked through another portal.

“I swear I will never know how the mystic arts work,” stated Ron quietly. That comment made the girl smile again. Soon, everyone drifted off into a peaceful sleep.


	20. Year five part two: Arriving at school

Before Alya went home with Stephen to get ready for school, she wished Harry luck for the trial. Which went well, sort of, as they did allow Harry to get onto the train and presumably go to school. When the five of them, meaning, Alya, Harry, Marcella, Ron, and Hermione got off the train, Draco and his two goons went up to them.

“I’m surprised the Ministry still let you walk around free Potter,” said Draco as he walked up to them. “Better enjoy it while you can. I expect there’s a cell in Azkaban with your name on it.”

There was no self-restraint when Harry tried to punch him. Ron held him back.

“What did I tell you?” Draco told Crabe and Goyle as they walked away. “Complete Nutter.”

“Just stay away from me!” Harry shouted at them, still being held back by Ron.

“It’s only Malfoy,” Ron tried to calm him down. “What did you expect?”

They went down to the carriages only to find one leaving. Cho Chang sat on it. Neville came up to them with a “Hey, guys.”

“Hey.” “Hey, Neville.” “Hey there Neville.” “Hi.” They said to him. 

A few seconds of awkward silence later, a carriage came up to them. “Do you see that?” Harry asked them. “You see what’s pulling the carriage?”

“Nothing’s pulling the carriage, Harry. It’s pulling itself as always,” Hermione told him.

“Actually,” Alya corrected. “I see it. It’s just one of those creatures where you have had to seen death to look at it.”

Hermione seemed to ignore her as she got onto the transportation. Everyone except for Marcella and Alya got onto it. “Hey Luna,” greeted Alya with a smile, seeing the blonde sit on the black carriage. 

“Hey Alya,” Lovegood greeted, turning her head behind her and downwards to look at her fellow Ravenclaws. “Not getting on?”

“No, there’s not enough room for us both,” Marcella pointed out. “We’ll wait for the next one.”

Luna, although she’d never been in any of their classes, or even in their dorm, has been a cool person to hang around (according to Alya and Marcella.) To Hermione, she’s annoying and eccentric.

When everyone got to the great hall in their robes, and the new ones sorted, Dumbledore stepped up to the podium like he always did during the start of the year. He welcomed the new students like always and announced the changes. One of them was about Professor Grubby-Plank coming back. Hagrid is on temporary leave. The last part was about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

What did Alya think about Dolores Umbridge? She doesn’t like her. Not at all. First, she got up to speak to the students, which no one really wanted. Second, her demeanor and personality were almost intolerable. She seems to be the kind of person who treats children like they’re stupid.

* * *

In the Defense classroom, the teacher wasn’t there, so, the Patils decided to make a paper bird fly. It flew past most of the students. Some of them tried to hit it which made the others laugh. All the fun and games were taken out of the room when Umbridge incinerated the poor thing.

She was right. Throughout the class, she did talk to the students as if they were stupid. Although she did talk about something useful: The O.W.L.s, or Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations. Umbridge's exact words were, “Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so and the consequences may be… severe.” 

They are subject-specific tests taken during students' fifth year, administered by the Wizarding Examinations Authority. The score made by a student on a particular O.W.L. determines whether or not he or she will be allowed to continue taking that subject in subsequent school years, and whether they might be successful in obtaining a particular job. So, they’re basically the magic version of standardized state tests, a glorified version of finals, and maybe a few ACTs or SATs. 

The woman then went on to pass out textbooks. Saying that “Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But, from now on, you’ll be learning from a carefully constructed course of defensive magic.” 

Hermione raised her hand and was called on. The Gryffindor said, “There’s nothing in here about using defensive spells.”

“Using spells?” Umbridge questioned. She walked closer to Hermione. “Well, I can’t imagine you would need to use spells in my classroom.”

Knowing that the new teacher wasn’t looking at her, Alya rolled her eyes. She was beginning to like this person even less now.

“We’re not going to use magic?” Ron asked.

“You’ll be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way,” was Umbridge's answer.

“What use is that?” asked Harry. “If we’re going to be attacked, it won’t be risk-free.”

Umbridge walked back to her desk saying, “Students will raise their hands when in my class.” She turned around to face the class. “It is the view of the ministry, that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all, is what school is all about.”

Alya’s hand shot up to ask a question. It seems like Harry and she were on the same wavelength as he was in the middle of asking “And how’s theory supposed to prepare-”

“Mr. Potter.” Umbridge's voice was stern. “Miss Alya Cortez raised her hand.”

Alya took that as her chance to speak. “Pardon me, professor,” she said trying to be polite. “But what if we encounter a real danger out there? How are your theories supposed to prepare us for what’s out there?”

“There is nothing out there, dear,” the professor answered. “Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourself?”

“Well, there’s trolls, boggarts, werewolves, centaurs might, if aggravated, giant spiders-”

“Miss Cortez,” she interrupted. “You would not need to defend yourself against them if you stayed out of the forbidden forest.” Someone seated behind Alya chuckled.

“And what about, hmm, I don’t know, Lord Voldemort?” Harry blurted out. Only a few people murmured. Alya just sighed. She gets that their new professor is aggravating, but A) know your audience b) She’s ministry! Of course, she’s going to shoot that down.

“Now, let me make this quite plain,” Dolores started to say. “You have been told…” she walked down the aisle. “That a certain dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie.”

“It’s not a lie. I saw him. I fought him,” Harry countered.

Dolores was having none of it. She whipped her head and body to the direction facing her desk shouting, “Detention, Mr. Potter!”

“So according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?”

“Cedric Diggory’s death was a tragic accident.”

“It was murder. Voldemort killed him.”

“Enough!” she stood stalk still. “Enough.” Her voice was gentler now. “See me later, Mr. Potter. My office. The rest of the class went by pretty boring. 

The rest of the day was pretty standard. The same old new year introduction, with a little bit of O.W.L.s, sprinkled in this year. Oh, what a year this will be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two new chapters posted in a day! Yay!


	21. Year Five part Three: In The Woods Somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies. This one’s a bit short.

The day after the first day of school, Alya and Harry took their usual walk in the woods towards the lake. “She did what?!” Alya questioned Harry. 

“You heard me,” he told her. His voice is soft, yet filled with malice.

“That doesn’t make it right!” 

Potter pulled ahead before turning his body to face her. “Yeah? Well it’s not like we can go back in time is it?” He wondered if Hermione still had her time-turner.

“I’m just worried about you.” The two of them stopped. “Harry, you won’t like this, but will you please just not talk about Voldemort in her classroom?”

“Alya, the ministry doesn’t want the school to believe that he’s at large when he is.”

“I know. I just-” she walked up to him. “I just don’t want something terrible to befall you because of her.”

Harry’s facial features softened. “Come here,” he said with open arms. The two of them embraced for a few seconds. “I’ll try,” he told her.

When they let go of each other, Alya asked, “Can I see your hand?”

“Sure.” he gave her his damaged hand. 

She placed it in the palm of her left while her right grasped her charoite pendant. “By the powers of Azarath, I beseech thee. Azarath Metrion Zinthos.” A glowing purple light consumed their joined hands. When it was gone, his hand was completely healed.

As they ventured deeper into the forest, they found a flock of those creatures who pulled the carriages. Luna was petting one of them. Alya noticed that she was barefoot. “Hey Luna,” Alya projected. “Did the Narguls steal your shoes?”

“I do believe they did,” she said as she turned to greet the two humans.

“I suppose then that socks aren’t any use to you without shoes? Or were they stolen too?” Cortez kept on the conversation. The other Ravenclaw shook her head. Alya got annoyed vibes from Harry, signaling that he didn’t know why she talked to her about Narguls when they don’t exist. She nudged him slightly.

“Hello Alya Cortez, Hello Harry Potter,” Luna greeted.

“You’re feet, aren’t they cold?” Harry asked her.

“Bit,” she replied. “Unfortunately all of my shoes have disappeared, as you’ve already heard.”

Alya went up to the Thestral with a wide smile. “Hi,” she greeted it as she petted its head. It leaned into her touch.

“What are they? I’ve never seen them before?” Harry asked.

“They’re called Thestrals,” both Ravenclaws answered simultaneously. Noticing this, they looked at each other, smiled, and giggled. “They’re quite gentle despite they’re appearance,” Alya kept talking.

“Why can’t the others see them?” the Chosen One questioned as the one Alya was petting walked away. Their attention was filled with the sounds of a youngling. Slowly and carefully, they approached.

“They can only be seen by people who’ve seen death,” Lovegood answered.

“So, you’ve both known people who’ve died then?” Potter asked.

“My mum,” Luna answered. “She was quite an extraordinary witch, but she did like to experiment and one day, one of her spells went badly wrong. I was nine.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry told her.

“Yeah it was rather horrible,” the blonde stated. “I do feel very sad about it sometimes, but I’ve got Dad. What about you Alya?” From her bag, she brought out an apple. The young Thestral seemed very happy about that. She knelt down and waited for it to come to her before she fed it the fruit.

“Though I was three, I still remember my parents' murder. It was seared into my memory,” Alya answered. “Some Circus wizard wanted my mom, a Maledictus, to come back to the circus. Either that or she had a debt to pay. Either way, it ended up with them dead and my getting captured to be the circus’ new Maledictus… I have seen two more people die, I must have been eight. It was during a crisis with an interdimensional being, but you don't need to know about that."

Some form of comfortable silence passed between the three of them as Alya and Luna continued to care for and pet the Thestrals. "I’m surprised you can only see them now, Harry," ALya continued. "I would have thought that your parents' murder would be enough to see them. Although, I guess not. You were just a baby. Cedric’s is the one that made you able to see them.”

“My dad and I believe you by the way Harry,” Luna spoke. “That He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back, and you fought him… and the Ministry and the _Prophet_ are conspiring against you.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Alya stated. “Although, I think that the ministry is forcing the _Prophet_ to print like that.”

“Thanks,” said Harry. “Both of you. It seems that you two are about the only ones that do.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Luna stated. “But I suppose that’s how he wants you to feel.”

“What do you mean?” the boy questioned, turning his face to hers.

“Well, if I were You-Know-Who, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else… because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.”

“Well Harry,” said Alya. “At least you’ve got a pair of Ravenclaws on your side.”

Luna took out a piece of raw meat and threw it at the young thestral. After a few minutes, the three of them went back to school.


	22. Year Five part Four: The Beginning of Dumbledore’s Army

It’s late October now. The days have become colder. More and more students got detention from Umbridge. Unlike Harry, they chose to report it.

During breakfast, Umbridge was being quite loud in her conversation with McGonagall. “Pardon me, professor, but what exactly are you insinuating?”

“I am merely requesting that when it comes to my students, you conform to the prescribed disciplinary practices,” McGonagall told her. Students, including (but not limited to) Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Marcella, and Alya went outside the Great Hall to view this exchange.

“So silly of me, but it sounds… as if you’re questioning _my_ authority in my own classroom, Minerva,” Ms. Pink and Proper countered. Upon mentioning the professor’s first name, she went up a step on the stairs that led to the moving staircases. 

“Not at all, Dolores,” McGonagall went up a step in the same manner. “Merely your medieval methods.”

Umbridge scoffed. “I’m sorry, dear, but to question my practices is to question the Ministry… and by extension, the minister himself. I am a tolerant woman, but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty.”

Minerva stepped down as she deadpanned, “Disloyalty?”

Umbridge went another step up and faced the children who had gathered. She addressed them saying, “Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared. Cornelius will want to take immediate action."

* * *

That week, a proclamation went on the walls in front of the Mess Hall. The Daily Prophet was raving about how this bitch was reforming the school. Alya flat out hates her, but masks it with politeness and is actually succeeding in her class.

As the weeks went on, she interviewed all of the teachers one at a time and during their own classes. Most of the students and faculty hated the fact. 

During the next few days, more and more proclamations decorated the walls.

Alya heard that she even ruins all of Fred and George’s fun. She heard that she took a measurement of Flitwick’s height when inspecting the Frog choir. She even heard that during a divination class, Umbridge pushed Trelawney to tell her fortune.

In late November, a buzz came about the school. Umbridge was kicking Sybil Trelawney out of the school. “This’s just downright cruel,” Alya said to Marcella as the two of them, like all the rest of the students, went to the scene. “On whose authority is she even acting on? Her own? Definitely not Dumbledore’s.” This year, she had started to retake Divination. It was actually kind of fun, contrary to Hermione’s beliefs.

“I think she’s acting on the Ministry’s,” a random Ravenclaw inputted.

“Well fuck that,” a Gryffindor chimed in.

“Honestly, yeah,” said a Hufflepuff.

Everyone became quiet Filtch was handing Trelawney her things as Umbridge walked up to the now supposedly former teacher. She looked so sad. “I have been living and teaching here for sixteen years,” Miss Trelawney told her. “Hogwarts is my home. Y-you can’t do this.” The poor woman was in tears.

“Actually,” said Ms. Pink and Proper, holding up a piece of paper. “I can.”

All of a sudden, McGonagall emerged from the crowd and embraced a now sobbing Trelawney. The Transfiguration professor glared at the ministry official. 

“Is there something you’d like to say?” Umbridge asked her.

“Oh, there are several things I’d like to say,” McGonagall told her before comforting the frizzy-haired professor in her arms. She gave her a tissue.

All of a sudden, the giant doors swung open to reveal Dumbledore storming out. He marched to the pink lady. “Professor McGonagall, might I ask you to escort Sybil back inside?”

The two women walked towards the man. “Sybil, dear. This way,” McGonagall urged.

“Thank you,” Trelawney muttered as she grasped his hand in a gesture of thanks for a moment. They then continued back inside.

“Dumbledore, may I remind you that under the terms,” Umbridge said. “Of Education Decree Number 23 as enacted by the minister-”

“You have the right to dismiss my teachers,” Dumbledore finished her sentence in a neutral tone. “You do not, however, have the authority to banish them from the grounds. That power remains with the headmaster.”

Ms. Pink and Proper merely smiled and said, “For now.” Holy crap. She might take his job.

After a few seconds of silence, Dumbledore turned around and went back in, yelling at the students, “Don’t you all have studying to do?”

* * *

When December rolled around, word came to Alya’s ears that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were meeting with a couple of other students to figure out who will teach them how to fight, since the school is no longer teaching them how, and that the Dark Lord is indeed out there. At least fifteen people crammed themselves into the upstairs room of the Three Broomsticks (Alya and Marcella included).

Hermione stood up and spoke, “Um, hi. So, you all know why we’re here. We need a teacher. A proper teacher. One who’s had real experience defending themselves against the Dark Arts.”

“Why?” questioned one of them.

“Why?” repeated Ron. “Because You-Know-Who’s back, you tosspot.”

“So he says,” the boy countered.

“So Dumbledore says,” Hermione corrected.

“So Dumbledore says because he says. The point is, where’s the proof?”

If Potter could tell us more about how Diggory got killed,” another boy suggested. 

Harry stood. “I’m not gonna talk about Cedric, so if that’s why you’re here, clear out now.” He then turned to whisper something into Hermione’s ear.

“Is it true you can produce a Patronus charm?” asked Luna. Everyone became quiet as they wanted to hear his response.

“Yes,” Hermione answered for him. “I’ve seen it.”

“Blimey, Harry. I didn’t know you could do that,” Dean spoke. He sat next to Neville who sat next to Ginny, who sat in front of Luna, who stood.

“A-and he killed a basilisk,” spoke Neville. “With a sword in Dumbledore’s office.”

“It’s true,” Hermione and Alya told the group, prompting them to look at each other.

“Third year he fought off about a hundred Dementors at once,” Ron told them.

“Last year, he really did fight off You-Know-Who in the flesh,” Hermione said.

“Wait,” Harry urged. “Look, it all sounds great when you say it like that. But the truth is, most of that was just luck. I didn’t know what I was doing half the time. I nearly always had help.” Throughout this entire thing, Alya noticed that Cho didn’t look away from the Chosen One. Not one bit. Perhaps Harry’s crush isn’t one-sided anymore.

“He’s just being modest,” Hermione told them.

“No, Hermione, I’m not. Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school, you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there, when you’re a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes… You don’t know what that’s like.”

“I do, Harry,” Alya spoke up. “I do. I told you only a little bit about what it was like for me growing up. I've gone on some missions throughout different dimensions, working with other Masters of The Mystic Arts. There are things I will never tell you because it hurts… too much to recall.” Tears threatened to surface as she remembered the deaths of two colleagues. “No one else here knows our kind of pain, that’s why they need your help. Our help. That’s what they came here for.”

Alya walked up to the sheet where one would sign up for the club. “I will join you and your club.” She wrote her name down before turning to the rest of them. “Voldemort is back people. It’s time you believed it.”

With that, everyone else in the room lined up to sign up. 

As they all walked back to the school, Alya and Marcella walked back with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and the Weasley twins. Ginny suggested the shrieking shack, but Harry said it was too small. 

“The forbidden forest?” Hermione suggested.

“Not bloody likely,” Ron shot the suggestion down.

“Harry?” Ginny asked, “What happens if Umbridge does find out?”

“Who bloody cares,” responded Hermione. “I mean, it’s sort of exciting isn’t it? Breaking the rules?”

“Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?” Ron quipped.

“Anyway,” Granger kept talking. “At least we know one positive thing that came from today.”

“That much is true,” Alya chimed in.

“What’s that?” Harry asked.

“Cho couldn’t take her eyes off you could she?” Alya told him.

As they entered school grounds Harry said, “Right. Over the next few days, we should each come up with a couple of possibilities of places we can practice. We’ve got to make sure that wherever it is, Umridge won’t find it.”

“Will do, Harry,” Ron told him as they entered the school. Everyone went their separate ways.

* * *

Two days after that, Nevelle said he found something. Himself, Harry, Ron, Hermione, the twins, and Alya went to check it out. “You’ve done it, Neville,” said Hermione. “You’ve found the Room of Requirement.”

“The what?” the male Gryffindor.

“The Room of Requirement,” said Alya. “It only appears when a person has real need of it.”

“And,” Hermione added. “It’s always equipped with the finder’s needs.” All of a sudden, mats appeared on the floor. The walls, including the door all, became rusted mirrors. 

“It’s brilliant,” Harry said. “It’s like Hogwarts wants us to fight back.”

* * *

In the following weeks, Harry had everyone meet twice a week to practice spells against a dummy. He started with Expeliarmus. With that spell, they all lined up and practiced with dummies. Then with Stupify, he had them go against each other and release the spell. For the convenience of late-night lessons, they came in through the main door, then exited out the side door, seeing as Filch probably saw students walk in. 

Over the days, articles, and pictures started showing up on one particular mirror. A photo of Cedric, a photo of the old Dumbledore’s Army, and a few news clippings of them.

Meanwhile, Umbridge really buckled down on having the Fifth-years study for the O.W.L.s. Then, she brought in the students one by one into her office to be questioned.

Another spell he had everyone practice was Wingardium Leviosa and Levicorpus. They practiced by keeping another student afloat. 

After Lee Jordan placed a niffler in her office, Umbridge had an inquisitors thing for students to sign up for. The only people Alya saw who were signing up were Draco Malfoy and friends.

The next spells Harry had them work on, were the shrinking and enlarging charms. Spells such as Diminuendo and engorgio. After that, Alya suggested they work on their locomotor spells. Every other day was reviewed. Every other day, they worked on something new. Ginny disintegrated one of the dummies with a Reducto.

When Christmas came around, they put up a tree in the room. Harry dismissed them early for the holidays, saying that they won’t meet again for the duration of the holiday. He told them to practice on their own time as best they could.


	23. Year Five part Five: The fall of Dumbledore's Army, and the fall of Dolores Umbridge

When everyone came back from the break, Harry had them all work on their Patronus Charm. Something that Alya would have done in her third year with Harry, if she didn't believe in the Charoite gem of Azarath. One of the spells she can release from is able to fend off dementors the same way as the Patronus charm.

However, she did produce a Patronus the same day they started practicing. Her’s was a peregrine falcon. As it turns out, Luna’s Patronus is a rabbit and Hermione’s Patronus is an otter.

That same day, however, there was a strange banging coming from where the wall disappears. It shook the chandeliers. The glass covering the door shattered and there looked to be a small hole through the stone.

Harry and Ron both went up to it to check out what was going on. Then, they heard Umbridge say, “I’ll make short work of this, bombarda maxima.” The wall exploded into a million pieces.

Everyone stood there not realizing what was happening. Although, Alya stood by the other door to make a quick escape if necessary. No one moved. Everyone got detention.

* * *

A few days later, Harry and Alya went on their usual walk in the woods. 

“So, I heard that Dumbledore burst into flames,” Alya told him. Umbridge, no surprise, has made herself the new Headmistress of the school in Dumbledore’s absence.

“You were told correctly,” Harry said. “The ministry tried to arrest him. It was called Dumbledore’s Army after all.”

“It _is_ called Dumbledore’s army, Harry. Even though we all got detention, we probably will still try to organize. Even if we don’t, most of us are still practicing our spells.”

“I appreciate that, Alya.” 

“I heard that you, Hermione and Ron are going with Hagrid to see a giant?”

“Yeah.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

Alya took a pause before her tone became slightly somber. “How’s um, how’s Ron’s dad?” She has heard about Harry’s dream from Hermione. How he was the snake that attacked Ron’s father.

“He’s doing okay,” Harry said in a dejected tone. “Even though I know it wasn’t me, I can’t help but feel responsible.”

“Hey,” she said, grabbing his hand gently. “He’s alive, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

When they got to their usual spot by the lake, Alya took in the view and said, “Everything really is changing, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I guess it is,” Harry replied as they sat down.

“I just hope that I won’t permanently turn into a bird before this is all over,” the girl said sadly. This prompted Harry to put an arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

* * *

The O.W.L.s has finally arrived. Alya felt very prepared. The Great Hall was turned into a giant exam room. Each student was given their own desk to take the test on.

Alya was a good way through hers when a strange banging noise came from outside the door. The Ravenclaw elected to ignore it and try to finish up her test. Umbridge's heels clicked on the stone floor as she walked towards the door. Students started whispering. Cortez just decided to keep her head down.

All of a sudden, blue fireworks exploded into the room. A few seconds of silence later, the Weasley twins flew into the room on broomsticks, making all of the papers fly everywhere. They even cast more fireworks and did tricks around the room on their brooms. All of the students got up from their seats and watched them, cheering them on. For the finale, they threw a giant firework in the air. It made itself into a glowing dragon and chased Umbridge out of the room. Once out, the dragon dispersed into little tiny fireworks and destroyed most, if not all of the proclamations. 

Next, all of the students followed the twins out into the front of the school before they released a large amount of fireworks. The last one made a gigantic W in the sky. The students kept cheering them on.

Alya could have sworn she saw Flitwick cheer them on as well.

Yet, there was something else. Some dark magic was at play here. The gem told her so. Alya looked around to find that Harry wasn’t looking too good. Hermione and Ron have already started to make their way to him. When Alya reached him, all he said was, “Sirius.”

The three of them ran after Harry as he rambled on about the vision he just had. Alya had a sense as to where they were going, and she didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Harry, are you sure?” Cortez asked him as they ran up the moving staircases.

“I saw it,” he said as he charged ahead. “It’s just like with Mr. Weasley. It’s the same door I’ve been dreaming about for months and I couldn’t remember where I’d seen it before. Sirius says Voldemort was after something. Something he didn’t have the last time, and it’s in the Department of Mystery.”

Hermione stopped him by placing a hand on his arm. “Harry, please listen,” she said to him. The four of them halted on a moving flight of stairs. “What if Voldemort meant for you to see it? If he’s only hurting Sirius because he’s trying to get to you?”

“What if he is?” The Chosen One brushed off. “I’m supposed to just let him die? Hermione, he’s the only family I’ve got left.”

Hermione, Alya, and Ron glanced at each other before Ron asked, “What do we do?”

“We’ll have to use the flu network,” stated Potter as he resumed his charge up the steps.

“But Umbridge has the chimneys under surveillance,” Alya told them.

“What other choice is there?” Harry pointed out. With a small eye roll, Cortez just accepted that this is what they were doing now and went with them. “Umbridge’s should be working and unguarded due to Fred and George distracting everyone outside.

Once they made it to the Defense class room, Alya said, “You three go, I’ll holler or send something if anyone comes.”

“Thank you, Alya,” Harry said as the trio rushed up the steps.

It wasn’t long before Draco rushed into the room. “Hello, Alya,” he greeted. “Why were you in such a hurry to get in here?”

“I left my quil here in the last class,” she lied, moving to her desk. “Just thought I’d try and retrieve it before I keep having to borrow one of Marcella’s. She doesn’t mind though.” She actually looked like she was searching for a quil she knew was back in the Mess Hall with all the papers strewn about.

“Funny, because I could've sworn I saw you leave with your quil last class,” Draco stated, stepping closer to her. 

She backed up towards the professor’s office, yelling, “Harry! Go quick!” just as fast as she hollered, Draco moved to cover her mouth. Umbridge entered and went into her office.

One by one, the imperial student task force that Umbridge setup, brought in certain members of Dumbledore’s Army. Alya, Nevile, Ginny, and Luna were three of them. When Alya entered the room with Draco forcefully moving her along, she saw that Harry sat in a chair facing Umbridge. The rest of them, including Hermione and Ron were in the room as well.

Umbridge leaned forward and asked Harry, “You were going to see dumbledore, weren’t you?”

“No,” he said honestly, earning a slap to the face.

“You sent for me, headmistress?” came Snape’s voice. He appeared at the door.

The Pink bitch turned to address him “Snape. Yes. The time has come for answers, whether he wants to give them to me, or not. Have you brought the Veritaserum?”

Alya’s eyes slightly widened as she realized that she was going to use truth serum on everyone. The Ravenclaw now feared for what she might tell her under that potion. She does not need a ministry official to know about her being a Maledictus.

“I’m afraid you used up all my stores interrogating students,” Snape informed. “The last of it on Mrs. Chang.” Harry looked back at his friends. They now knew that Cho didn’t mean to betray them. Yet, Alya couldn’t help but think Snape is lying to her about his stock on the serum. “Unless you wish to poison him, then I assure you, I would have the greatest sympathy if you did. I cannot help you.” 

The potions professor turned to leave before Harry blurted out, “He’s got Padfoot.” Alya wondered what he was doing, but then remembered what Harry told her about Snape being a spy for Hogwarts. “He’s got Padfoot at the place where it’s hidden.”

“Padfoot?” Umbridge questioned, turning back to Snape. “What is Padfoot? Well? What is it? What is he talking about Snape?” Her words didn’t seem to have any sort of pause whatsoever.

Severus turned around and said simply, “No idea.” He then turned to leave. Cortez hid her smile.

Slowly, the pink bitch turned around to face her desk. “Very well. I give you no choice then, Potter. As this is an issue of ministry security, you leave me with… no alternative. The Cruciatus curse ought to loosen your tongue.” 

Ron tried desperately to get out of the hold of a Slytherin while Hermione pointed out, “That’s illegal.”

“What Cornelius doesn’t know, won’t hurt him,” The Headmistress said as she placed the Minister’s picture face down on her desk.

“Tell her Harry,” ‘Moine blurted out, fearing for Harry’s safety and life.

“Tell me what?”

“Well, if you won’t tell her where it is, I will,” Granger told, ignoring Umbridge’s question. The members of Dumbledore’s Army all looked to her in confusion. All except Alya, who couldn’t help but feel as if she would give her miss information.

“Where _what_ is?” Dolores questioned, still pointing her wand at Harry.

“Dumbledore’s secret weapon,” the Gryffindor told her. 

Hermione was forced to lead the way as Dolores and Harry followed. She led them into the forbidden forest.

Draco's hold on Alya eased up she jerked herself free. Confused, she turned to him with a questioning look. "I want you to follow them, and I want you to report back to me." He then leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "Or would you like for me to tell everyone your dirty little secret?"

Wide-eyed, she agreed to go, much to the confusion and protests of Neville and Ginny.

Alya found them as Hermione said, “... somewhere students wouldn’t find accidentally.” The raven quietly flew around and noticed a giant rope that seemed to have held something in place at some point. The only thing big enough that she could think of would be a giant. Specifically, the giant that the trio met a few days ago.

Upon finding them, she found someone else, the centaurs. Alya’s peregrine form went right up to them. She thought them best to take care of Umbridge. She led them towards the pink witch. Once there, she flew over the three humans as the centaurs appeared on the ridge.

“You have no business here, Centaur,” Umbridge said as Alya landed on a branch. “This is a ministry matter.” The centaurs stepped closer. The closest one aimed his bow and arrow at her. “Lower your weapons. I warn you, under the law, as creatures of near-human intelligence-” A Centaur shot an arrow at her, but she deflected it. “How dare you. Filthy half-breed!” She then cast a long piece of rope at him. It strangled the creature. He tries to get it off of himself but ends up falling to the ground.

Hermione rushes to help him but then turns to Umbridge begging, “Please, please stop it. Please!”

“No, enough!” The lady barks at them. “I will. Have. Order!” All of a sudden, the giant Alya was looking for suddenly appeared and picked up the headmistress. The centaurs shot arrows at the giant. Harry had to drag Granger out of there as she pleaded with them to hold their fire. The giant soon let go of Umbridge. The half-human-half-horse-people dragged her away.

The three remaining humans rushed back to the school, realizing that they still had Sirius to save. Alya had a pit in her stomach. She knew something was going to end horribly.


	24. Year Five part six: The Department of Mysteries

Once back in Dolores’ office, Draco was still waiting for Alya to report. Once she stepped into the room, he asked, “Well?”

“I'll tell you later," she whispered before yelling out, "Stupify!” She sent him crashing into the framed pictures of cats. Looking back on it now, she probably shouldn’t have done that, considering he might tell the entire school that she’s a Maledictus. Neville, Ginny, Ron, and Luna all knocked out the people holding them in one way or another.

“Come on guys,” Alya said as she was about to enter the flu system. 

“Alya, wait,” Harry said, which stopped her from moving. “You don’t have to come with me, none of you do.”

“We’re your friends Harry,” Hermione told him. The dark-haired boy turned to her.

“So?” Harry asked.

“So of course we’re going with you,” Ron answered.

“Besides, back up wouldn’t hurt,” Alya stated.

“Fine,” Harry allowed.

Cortez resumes her path through the chimney. Everyone followed.

* * *

They were now in the Department of Mystery. They all stayed in one large group so as not to get separated if any of them ran into trouble. Lumos cast on each of their wands. It seemed as if it took hours of searching, but they finally found what they were looking for.

All of a sudden, Alya heard footsteps coming towards them. “I have a bad feeling about this,” she voiced.

Harry spotted them too. “Where’s Sirius?” he questioned an oncoming death eater. 

“You really should know the difference between dreams,” said the death eater as he stepped ever closer. He stopped suddenly and unhooked his wand from cane. The mask disappeared from his face. “And reality,” he continued, revealing himself to be Lucious Malfoy. “You saw only what the dark lord wanted you to see. Now hand me the prophecy.”

“You do anything to us, I’ll break it,” Potter threatened.

A wicked cackle erupted from a woman behind him. “He knows how to play,” the voice said. She seemed to be getting closer. “Itty, bitty, baby, Potter.” Her face became visible.

“Bellatrix Lestrange,” Neville recognized.

“Neville Longbottom, is it?” she questioned. “How’s mom and dad?”

“Better now that they’re about to be avenged,” the Gryffindor answered, wiping his wand out. Bellatrix did the same. Harry held back Neville while Malfoy brought his arm in front of LeStrange.

“Let’s everybody, just calm down,” Malfoy stated. “All we want, is that prophecy.”

“Why did Voldemort need me to come and get this?” Potter questioned.

“He dares speak his name,” LeStrange whispered. “You filthy half-blood!”

“It’s alright,” Malfoy told her. “He’s just a curious little lad, aren’t you? Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. Which is lucky for you, really.” Death eaters closed in on the group on all sides. Lucius and Bellatrix stepped closer. The others turned to face the death eaters.“Haven’t you always wondered what the reason was for your connection with the Dark Lord? How he was unable to kill you when you were just a baby? Don’t you want to know the secret of your scar? All the answers are there.” They were now five feet in front of them. “All you have to do, is give it to me. I can show you everything.” 

“I’ve waited fourteen years,” Harry stated.

“I know,” Malfoy said.

“Guess I can wait a little longer. Now!” Harry stepped back as they all cast Stupify on the death eaters. They ran down the halls in an attempt to get away. If the death eaters appeared in front of them, then they would turn around or back track. During that process, they seem to have gotten separated.

Alya ended up by herself. A death eater appeared in front of her. She cast another stupify. A few rows of prophecies later, two showed up. Other spells she used were Levicorpus, and Petrificus Totalus. At some point, however, the group of teenagers just crashed into each other on two sides. Ginny cast a Reducto to the one closing in on her side. 

All of a sudden, prophecies started falling off the shelves. They started to back away but then turned tail and ran towards the door. Alya opened it using the charoite gem’s magic. It closed on its own once everyone was through. However, they didn’t run to safety. Actually, they fell into danger. Just when They all thought that they’d become pancakes of the floor, Alya called out, “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” the magic of the gem caught everyone and then let them down gently.

Upon looking around, Cortez saw that everyone was okay, and the prophecy orb was still intact. “Thank you, Alya,” Ron said as he got up. 

“Yeah thank you.” “Thanks,” some of the others said.

That’s when Harry, Alya and Luna noticed the strange gateway. “Do you hear those voices?” asked Harry. “I can’t tell what they’re saying.”

“There aren’t any voices Harry,” Hermione countered. “Let’s get out of here.” She searched for a way to escape.

“I hear them too,” Luna said as she stepped up to the strange archway with the near-clear veil.

“Guys, it’s just an empty archway,” Hermione tried to tell them. 

“No it’s not. There’s something there. It’s like an entrance into another plane of existence,” Alya said. 

“What are you talking about?” Granger kept being a skeptic.

 _“They’re coming,”_ the gem told Alya. Quickly, she looked upwards.

“Get behind me!” Harry commanded. They all went behind the Chosen One with their wands at the ready.

Suddenly a giant black cloud engulfed them. Alya tried to get another Azarath spell to get them away, but the death eater that captured her covered her mouth as he aimed his wand towards her neck. She looked back at Harry, who was left in the center. He got up off the floor, still clutching the orb. He looked around to see that his friends had been captured.

Luciuos Malfoy chuckled as he came out of the darkness. “Did you actually believe, no way you’re actually naive enough to think that you children stood a chance against us.” He walked past Harry towards the strange archway.

Lucious went on, extending his hand towards the Chosen One. “I’ll make this simple, Potter. Give me the prophecy, now, or watch your friends die.” 

Harry pondered over it. “Don’t give it to him Harry!” Neville shouted. He handed over the orb.

In an attempt to flee, Alya bit the hand that covered her mouth. The man yelped as he pulled his hand away. She used a portal to get behind him and cast a Stupify. She stayed levitating in the air as her former captor fell to the ground.

Not a few seconds later, Sirius arrived, saying “Step away from my godson,” and punched Lucious in the face.

A bunch of shining white lights came down and freed the other teens. Spells started flying everywhere. Alya had to block a few from hitting her.

She cast a Depulso at one of them before noticing that Tonks was guiding Luna and Ginny to a place they could hide. The teen gave them cover as they hid behind the rocks. Noticing that most of her friends were there, she protected them during the skirmish. Then it happened.

Bellatrix Lestrange cast the killing curse at Sirius Black. He fell into the veil and disappeared from this dimension. Tears threatened to fall as anger consumed her. She cast an Incendio at the next death eater she saw. They fled in a flurry of blackness and flames. Lupin went up to Harry to hold him and try to stop him from going after the witch. He managed to pull away.

“Alya!” Lupin yelled as the death eaters fled. “Take your peers back to Hogwarts.”

“But what about-”

“I’ll go after Harry. Just go.”

“No! I’m not leaving him!” She yelled as she ran out of the room. Her fellow students followed.

They were greeted with the sight of Dumbledore sitting next to a struggling Harry. He laid on the ground trying to get Voldemort out of his head. Alya wondered if she should try and help, but the gem answered, _“Let him do this.”_

They saw Harry look at them as he struggled to get him out of his head. “You’ll never know love, and I feel sorry for you.”

All of a sudden, a circle of the sand became a perimeter around Harry as he said, “You’re a fool, Harry Potter.” Just then, the Minister, along with a handful of other ministry officials entered the hall through the flu system. The Dark Lord took that as his que to leave.

“He’s back,” Cornelius Fudge muttered.

“Harry!” Alya yelled as she rushed over to him. He had already passed out.

“Alya, go take your friends back to school,” Albus ordered, not looking at her.

“But sir,” she said before she followed his line of sight. He stared at the Minister. “Ron, help me pick him up, will you?” She asked the Gryffindor. 

“Sure,” he said as he walked over. Once they had Harry, Alya opened up a portal for her schoolmates to step through. She transported the Gryffindors to their house tower before taking herself and Luna to theirs.

* * *

During the last weeks of class that followed, Harry was just mopey all the time. His Gryffindor friends tried to cheer him up while his Ravenclaw friends simply tried to comfort him. In one of the first days of those weeks and after class, Alya and Draco met up in the library.

"Well, what happened?" Draco asked her.

"Centaurs appeared, Umbridge attacked first," she responded. "Then a troll picked her up. Harry and Ron had to drag Hermione out of there before she tried to stop the centaurs from attacking the troll. He'd picked up the pink menace. After the onslaught of arrows hit the creature's arm, he dropped the ministry official and the centaurs carried her away."

"I see. Guess I won't be taking telling the entire school about your condition." She gave him a blank expression.

"If I may ask, why did you want to know?"

"My father wanted me to keep him updated."

She scoffed and shook her head. "Is that why you agreed to be one of her inquisitors?"

"Yes."

* * *

Harry and Alya still took their walks in the woods, sometimes, not saying much. They would often go down to the lake and sit there, letting the sounds of nature fill the silence. Not today, however.

“Did your scar hurt every time Voldemort reaches out to you?” Alya asked him.

“A bit, yeah,” he answered. “How’re you with your nightmares? Have they dialed down at all?”

“Sort of…” she said, keeping her gaze towards the lake. “The Charoite gem of Azarath has been acting up a bit.”

He turned to her. “Yeah?”

“Yes. It might have something to do with the fact that I am almost sixteen.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“The last time Raven, the girl in the gem,” she paused, glancing at him. “Accidentally let Trigon out to be unleashed unto Azarath, she was sixteen… I can’t help but feel that…” she trailed off.

“That you’ll end up becoming a portal for him to use to get into this world?” Harry finished.

“Yes.”

They didn’t say anything for a full minute. Potter glanced over at Alya and found that she was in deep thought. Her arms wrapped around her knees and her head rested on her lower thighs.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked her.

“Peregrine falcons only live for fifteen years,” Alya finally said. “I’m fifteen, and a Maledictus… I should have fully transformed into a falcon.”

“Hey, stop that, alright?” He asked of her. “Stop thinking like that. You’re here. You’re you, and shouldn’t that be all that matters?”

“Harry,” she tried to say something, but it wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

“It’ll all be okay in the end, alright?”

“How can you think like that?”

“Honestly? I feel like I have to.”

During the summer, they’ll go over to the Order’s headquarters for Sirius’ will to be read. No real lawyer is reading it, just Lupin. The general public still believes Sirius to be at large.

* * *

When it was time to leave the school for the summer, everyone packed their bags and went onto the trains. Harry, Alya, Ron, Hermione, and Marcella would be sitting in the same booth once again. As they got on the train, Alya remembered Harry say something to them. “I’ve been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me.”

“What’s that?” Hermione asked him. The two Ravenclaws looked to him for his answer.

“That even though we’ve got a fight ahead of us, we’ve got one thing that Voldemort doesn’t have.”

“Yeah?” Ron questioned.

“Something worth fighting for,” Harry answered.

This made everyone smile. “That… is the cheesiest and perhaps the corniest thing I have ever heard you say,” Alya said to him. 

“But it’s true,” the Boy Who Lived defended.

“Yes, but,” Alya stated. “It’s just so… you know.”

“Sure.” They were all on the platform now.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure you got that from Mulan,” Marcella interjected, chuckling.

“It does sound like it, doesn’t it?” Hermione inputted. They entered the train.

”what the heck is Mulan?” Ron questioned the girls. Two of them giggled at him while the other smiled at him kindly.

“Guys,” Harry tried to get his friends back on track. “I’m being serious here.”

“We know, Harry,” Alya said as they stepped into the booth. Somehow, she's looking forward to next year.

  
  
  



	25. Hogwarts Year Six Part 1: Malfoy, Walks, and Slughorn's Dinner Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a little bit, but I finally finished year six! Here it is.

Over the summer, there had been numerous sightings of death eaters, especially in the mortal world. They’ve been taking (seemingly) random people. Some of them even destroyed a bridge once. Word got around that they kidnapped Ollivander. Alya also heard that Lucious Malfoy had been apprehended for his involvement with the Death Eaters. 

Stephen, Wong, and Alya could tell that a war was upon England between the Order of the Phoenix, and the Death Eaters. With Alya’s nightmares getting worse, and the gem using more and more magic, they’re not sure if they would be able to aid the Wizarding World. Not yet, at least.

Alya turned sixteen in August and already had to deal with the Demon Lord Trigon trying to get into her head and persuade her to go to him. Now, she has to go to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Normally, she would have no problem with going back to the place where the only children she knows that are her age (and who she considers friends) reside during this time of the year. However, she fears for their safety. Plus, Cortez is very sure that Draco didn’t reveal her secret to the whole school, which is nice, she supposes. Yet still, her mind dreads if he’ll ever bring that up again.

During the train ride over, Harry disappeared at some point. When the train arrived, Hermione and Ron decided to go to the platform while Alya did a quick search of the train. She eventually found a strange almost invisible line that seemed to distort the space around it. Upon lifting it up, Alya found it to be Harry, knocked out, and was most likely hit with a Petrificus Totalus. She cured him and woke him up.

“Hey, hey,” Alya greeted as he opened his eyes. “Come on, we’ve got to get off the train.” She helped him up. As the two walked towards the platform, she asked, “Who did it?”

“Malfoy,” Harry said with hatred.

“Really?” She questioned.

“He’s up to something, Alya. I just know it.”

“Well, that remains to be seen.”

On their way to the platform, the two of them were surprised to find that some students' belongings were being searched. Dumbledore’s speech was quite the downer, but he did speak the truth. What she found even more interesting, was the fact that Snape would be their new defense against the Dark Arts teacher this year, and his previous post would be filled with the previous potions Professor. Professor Slughorn. 

Given that in her O.W.L.s Alya said that she either wanted to be an Auror or Curse Breaker. Or, she would go back to the Monastery and help keep watch over the universe. Even still, she still had to take potions class. Unfortunately, she did not have that class with her friends. Even still, Alya found it somewhat enjoyable. Slughorn offered up a single vile of Liquid Luck to the person who could get The Draught of Living Death. A complicated potion. It seemed too hard to cut this one ingredient, so Cortez thought to crush it. Her Drought ended up being perfect and she received the prize. She doesn’t, however, think that she’ll use it any time soon.

* * *

On Wednesday after school, the Gryffindors held tryouts for the Quidditch team. Alya would have gone to the Ravenclaw tryouts held on Tuesday, but she doesn’t have any friends on the team.

So, when Alya and Marcella both went to see the Gryffindor tryouts, they were surprised to find Luna already there. Hermione was present too, just on the top bleacher. Alya waved to Granger, who waved back. She seemed nervous. Cortez and Smilovici chose to sit next to their fellow Raven.

“Hey Luna,” They both greeted. 

“Hey guys,” she said. The players weren’t in the air yet.

Next to the Ravenclaw trio was a Gryffindor who seemed to really like Ron. Once the players got into the air, she cheered him on with a loud voice.

At one point, a quaffle nearly knocked Ron off his broom. Everyone waited in anticipation as he slowly got back onto the floating sweeper.

Alya could have sworn that she heard Hermione mutter a spell. In the next instant, the other person trying out for keeper/goalie, moved to the side and let the quaffle in. The Raven couldn’t think that those two events weren’t a coincidence.

* * *

On the Monday of the next week, Harry and Alya were on their usual walk to the lake during the break between classes.

“So, I saw that the quidditch trials went well,” Cortez told him.

“Yeah, yes they did.” A strange awkward silence seemed to envelop them. It wasn’t the comfortable silence that usually holds them. “Have you been to Fred and George’s joke shop yet?”

“No, no I haven’t.”

“Oh, well you should. There’s a little trinket of Umbridge riding a unicycle on a wire shouting, 'I will have order!'” He tried to imitate the woman, making Alya laugh.

“So, you know how you found me on the train?” He asked her.

“Yeah?” Alya questioned, wondering where this was going.

“You know how Draco was the one who did that to me?” He turned to her to see the girl nodding with an Uh huh. “Well, Ron, Hermione and I saw him walk down this alley with some suspicious-looking people and decided to follow him. He went to this weird building to talk with some other suspicious-looking people. Fenrir Greyback was there too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, just be careful this year. Alright. That’s all I ask.”

“Hey, I’m always careful.”

“Always reckless is more like it.” He gave her a look. “What? It’s true.”

* * *

On the Friday night of the second week, Slughorn invited a bunch of students to have dinner with him. There were two that Alya didn’t know. They must have been from Slughorn’s other classes. One of them doesn’t get along with his father.

When Slughorn asked Alya what her parents did, she replied, “My adoptive dad is a neurosurgeon. A very skilled one too.” The movement of utensils stopped. Noting that everyone except Harry and Hermione stopped eating, and were confused, she explained, “A neurosurgeon is a type of doctor. They diagnose, surgically treat, and rehabilitate disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system, which include the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. It’s not dangerous or anything.”

“Fascinating.” He paused, noting that she said adoptive. “And um, your… adoptive mother?” He questioned.

Alya seemed to freeze for a second or two. Harry glanced over at her to see if she was okay. The Ravenclaw stabbed her food with her fork and replying, “Don’t have one. It’s just me and my dad.” 

“Oh, well, I’m sorry to hear that,” the professor said. Cortez chose not to speak anymore. How old fashioned of the man to say such a thing. If she didn’t keep her mouth shut, she probably would’ve said something along the lines of “I’m not.” 

“And what about you, Ms. Granger?”

“Both my parents are dentists,” she told him. There wasn’t any bit of disappointment in that statement. The movement of utensils halted for the second time, they didn’t expect that answer. Alya, however, kept eating. Harry didn’t, as he never knew what her parents did. “They attend to people’s teeth,” she explained.

“Fascinating, and is that considered a dangerous profession?” Slughorn questioned.

“No,” Granger answered. Before she could say anymore, Ginny burst in.

“Ah, Ms. Weasley, come in,” Professor Slughorn motioned for her to come in.

“Sorry,” she said as she stepped further into the room. “I’m not usually late.” 

“Look at her eyes,” Hermione whispered to Harry. “Her and Dean have been fighting again.”

Harry, trying to be a gentleman, stood up. Realizing that no one else did, and after a comment from the professor, he sat back down.

Both Alya and Hermione looked at him with kind eyes and smiles. “What?” He asked quietly. They gave him no answer. The two of them just simply chuckled slightly and resumed their meal. Alya couldn’t wait to get out of there.


	26. Hogwarts Year Six Part 2: Suspicion of Malfoy and The Attack

During the third week, she managed to hang out with Draco alone in the library like they somewhat used to two years prior. If anyone asked, they would always say that they were studying near each other, not with each other. Alya took this opportunity to ask him about Harry’s inquiries.

“You know,” she said, getting his attention away from his book. “Potter told me the most interesting thing last week.” He said nothing. “He told me that he saw you with a few suspicious-looking people, including Fenrir Greyback. Potter thinks you’re a Death Eater.”

“Really?” Draco sounded unimpressed.

“Yes. Forgive me, but I just wanted to see if that were true… my lips will be forever sealed, Draco. You can tell me.” 

He got up from his chair and walked to the other side of the table. Once he had his hand touching her shoulder, he apparated into a secluded room of the castle. A room Alya has never seen before.

“As you’ve probably found out by now, my father’s been apprehended, no thanks to Potter, by the way,” the Slytherin Prince told the Raven. Her silence signifies that he should continue speaking. “The Dark Lord has tasked me with doing something I’m not sure I can do.”

“Okay, well, are you seriously thinking of doing it?”

“I’m not going to tell you that.”

“Fine,” Alya accepted. She moved towards the door of the room. “but if you regret doing it later, just remember that I gave you a way out, and you chose not to take it.” She was stopped but a hand.

“I thought you were smarter than this,” he said to her. She yanked her arm away from his grasp. “I don’t have a choice. I never have.”

“Of course,” she stated, studying the floor for a minute. “But you have a friend if you decide you want to rebel. Okay?” With that, she left him.

* * *

When November hit, and snow was on the ground, Gryffindor had a game against Slytherin. She went to support Harry and Ron and didn’t really pay much attention to the game. The Charoite gem was whispering spells again. Alya focused on it, and missed the many saves that Ron had made as goalie. Alya did however, pay enough attention to know that the Gryffindors won.

During the last week of November of Alya’s sixth year, she and Marcella were hanging out in their room after classes were done for the day. All of a sudden, the castle started to shake. Alya’s pendant was glowing purple. 

“Oh no, they’re here,” Alya whispered. “I have to go.” Quickly, she sling ringed a portal to the shadow demons.

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick, had all gone to the front of the school, as strange shadows had appeared and started attacking the castle. Some students were hiding in view of the teachers and shadows, but still watching them.

“What is your purpose here?” McGonagall questioned them. Her wand at the ready. At first, they thought it was a death eater attack. They were wrong. They’re some manner of creature no one has seen before. Their skin is pitch black, as well as their armor. It’s unclear whether the horns on their heads are from their helmets, or if the horns are growing out of their heads.

“We want the girl,” one of them said. Its voice was deep and echoey.

All of a sudden, a golden-rimmed portal appeared beside the Professors. Alya stepped out of it wearing clothes that none of them had ever seen before.

“Ah,” the demon said. “There she is.”

Golden magic symbols projected from her hands. She said, “You are trespassing in this dimension, on this planet, in this country, and in this school. I demand you leave immediately.” She took a stance.

The demon merely laughed. “Ah, but you see, we’re here to bring you to Trigon,” he said. 

“Yeah?” Alya asked, ready for a fight. “Well Trigon can piss off.” Before any demons could reach any of the students, Cortez managed to put a mirror dimension over herself and the demons. 

The leader motioned for his lackeys to attack. Alya went forward. She threw a couple of Tao Mandalas as if they were shurikens, they chopped off the heads of the shadow demons. It didn’t seem to have much effect on them as their heads quickly grew back. _“Of course they’re undead,”_ Alya thought to herself.

Right as a few of them were about to hit her with their weapons, she made a magic Tao Mandala shield that surrounded her entire body. Next, the girl formed an Eldritch Whip. That too had the same effect as the thrown magic symbols. She did, however, cast a few Reducto’s. Alya went back to using the Tao Mandalas as throwing discs, or fans. Sometimes however, she had to conjure an Eldritch Sword.

 _“Use me,”_ the Charoite gem echoed in her mind. The girl clasped it. A purple aura surrounded her as she floated above them. 

Her eyes started to glow a bright white. Her hair turned dark purple. Red-colored runes lined her body and clothes.“Mother of Azarath, give me strength! Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” Her voice echoed. White light engulfed her before she expelled it. The whiteness engulfing everything around it. 

“We’ll be back,” said the shadow demon before it too got engulfed. Then, it all gathered into a tiny ball before exploding and dissipating into nothingness. The shadow demons were gone.

The mirror dimension disappeared. Slowly, the Ravenclaw floated back down onto the ground. The runes disappeared but the hair stayed. Once on the ground, she stumbled slightly, too weak to stand up straight. 

“Alya!!!” Marcella and Harry shouted as they ran to her, catching the fifteen-year-old. The now dark purple-haired girl looked at her roommate and smiled weakly at her.

Then, it hit her. Alya had to leave. She couldn’t stand herself if she led them here, and they hurt anyone here. So, she had Harry and Marcella help her walk over to Dumbledore, saying, “I can stay here no longer. I will put the rest of you in danger if I do.”

“I understand,” he said. “Your place at Hogwarts will remain once you come back. If… you chose to come back.” 

“Thank you,” The girl then started to walk away from everyone on her own, going to the bridge. 

“Alya wait!” Marcella yelled as again ran up to her friend. Harry hung back. He knew what this meant. Alya has explained everything to him.

“Marcella,” Alya’s voice was stern. “Wherever I’m going, you cannot follow.” 

“But-“

“No buts. Stay here. Finish your studies. I’ll come back when this is over. I’ll be seeing you.” Marcella responded with silence as Alya opened a portal. Where did that portal lead to? Her room. She wasn’t about to leave in her Ravenclaw robes, or put on her Mystic Arts garb. Alya feels that she can’t go to any of the sanctuaries either. Too dangerous for everyone there. So, before Marcella could catch up to her, she vanished. This began their longest journey apart from each other.


	27. Trigon Part 1: London Sancuary

Alya made her way to the London Sanctuary by portals. Wong was already in the building. 

“Alya?” he questioned, stepping closer to her. “What happened, why aren’t you in school?”

“Trigon happened,” was all she said as she placed her bag down onto the couch. “I managed to fight them off, but I chose to leave the school so that none of them would get hurt… They’re after me, so I felt like I had to.”

“Okay, but it wasn’t actually him, right? Just his shadow demons?”

“Correct,” she confirmed. “Besides, the Wizarding World doesn’t know how to fight a threat like this.”

“True.” Wong looked as if he was contemplating something. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared through a golden rimmed portal.

“You left the school?” asked Doctor Strange as he walked through the portal.

“Yes,” she told him, getting up from the couch to face him.

“So, he’s here?” her father questioned.

“Not really,” she told him. “If that were true, then he would have just appeared instead of all those shadow demons. Which I took care of quite nicely, I should say.”

“Good job, but that’s beside the point-”

“You were about to tell me that I should’ve just stayed in school and let you handle it, correct?” Her arms had crossed and her head tilted as she asked her question.

Stephen paused. “I understand why you left,” he said to her. “I just want to be able to keep you safe for as long as I can, and while I still can.”

Alya scoffed. “I broke into the freaking Ministry last year and fought a bunch of death eaters. Two years before that, I fought dementors… I think your time for protecting me has passed.” A little bit of her English accent came out. That never really used to happen when she talked to her adoptive father.

She grabbed her bag and walked away, heading up to her room. Alya then unpacked. Since she’ll be safer in the Grand Monastery in Asia, she’ll probably end up having to repack, but there are certain things she can leave behind here.

The teen spent a few hours just reading. Even though she’s read _The Secret Garden_ about a million times, she found herself reading it again. It usually takes her about four hours to start and finish it. The next book that she’s read countless times would probably be _Echo._

Their dinner was eaten in almost complete silence, save for the scrapes that would come from the utensils.

* * *

A few days had passed after she had left school. Things were getting crazier in the wizarding world. Disappearances became more and more frequent, and they replaced the Minister. Of course, all of that according to _The Daily Prophet._

The trio was thinking of leaving the London Sanctuary soon to go to Kamar-Taj. Since she wasn’t taking any of her clases, all she did was read. The teen went through all three of her Mary Downing Hahn novels, then went into the three books she had of Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series. She did however, take the time to practice each magic, mystic and non-mystic. She might be breaking the law, as she isn’t quite seventeen yet, but the London Sanctuary has a protective barrier around it, so the ministry wouldn’t be able to sense her.

Another thing she let herself do to fill the time, was let her mind wander. A dangerous thing sometimes. What if she never went to Hogwarts? Then she would have never met any of the amazing people that she considers friends, her magical abilities wouldn’t have grown, and she probably would be feeling differently about the gem. Also, she would probably be going to a regular school. Especially an American/New York City school.

What if the gem let her permanently turn into a peregrine falcon while in school? What if she turned and she wasn’t going to Hogwarts? Regardless, she would be kept in the Sanctum Sanctorum of New York. Doctor Strange would be her keeper. She wouldn’t live for very long after that.

What if she was never born? Would the gem have to keep sifting through mages to find its other half, since half of Raven’s soul is trapped in the gem while the other half has been reincarnated into her? If she wasn’t alive, or ‘there’ then Trigon didn’t have a bigger probability to come back. Yet, mayhaps, she can defeat Trigon. 

What if Raven was able to take care of her father and actually save Azarath instead of encasing it in the gem? Then Alya wouldn’t be in this predicament would she? That is, if she would have been born? If so, then wouldn’t Raven have been able to die with her full soul intact? Would Alya exist as a full reincarnation of Raven?

Peregrine falcons. That’s what her Maledictus form is, it's what she’ll turn into at some point in her life. A point in time that should have already passed. Peregrines live up to fifteen years. She turned sixteen in August. The only reasonable explanation she could find for the delay was the Charoite Gem of Azarath. It’s magic could be delaying it, but for how long? If the gem were able to stop the blood curse completely, she wouldn’t be able to turn into a bird. When will the gem’s magic cease to hold the permanent transformation back? Really, when? If not a few years ago, which is when she thought she’d permanently turn, then when? In a month? A year? After she finishes school? When she’s older than the age of a college student? Why would the gem do this anyway? 

What if Alya’s mother was never cursed? Or her mother’s mother? What if that blood curse was never cast or manifested? Then her parents would probably still be alive and she would be attending Ilvermorny.

She could dwell on every what if and almost every time, she’d come up with some strange ending. It was only a few times, when going through the what ifs when she found something up-lifting. 

Noticing the depressing feeling this was giving her, she stopped dwelling and went back to reading. Maybe she should try thinking like Harry, saying that everything will turn out alright. Mayhaps tomorrow she’ll do more training. That is, if she didn’t have to pack her bag yet.

  
  



	28. Trigon Part 2: Kamar-Taj

They had finally made it to Kamar-Taj during the third week of December. Stephen met with some of the other officials while Alya unpacked. Being back in the temple where everyone trained was weird, but really fulfilling at the same time. It felt like she was at an old school. Almost like she was an alumnus. The teen wandered the halls to see what had changed and what remained. Though sometimes, her focus split. Something kept bothering her. So, she went to the library.

* * *

After nearly an hour, she finally found the book that she needed, to get rid of blood curses. It’s in early European languages such as Latin, so it would be easy enough to read. An exceedingly long time ago, a monk from the Kamar-Taj journeyed to Europe. He had the natives write down the spell in their own language. The pages in the back of the book are filled with the translations of the explanations of the spells, including how to pronounce the spells. The translation is in Tibetan (which she could also read). The original spell is still written in the original language. There are three volumes of this, one is early English and Gaelic, while the other two are Latin and Ancient Greek.

At this point, she didn’t care about the consequences. All she wanted was for her to not turn into a peregrine falcon for the rest of her life. Quite frankly, it should have been done much sooner. The only reasonable explanation for it being prolonged was because of the Charoite gem. She made four different hind signs before shouting, “Occidere, in sanguinem maledicta!” Something wet flowed down her cheeks. It was only then that she found out that tears were shed.

A few minutes later, Stephen walked by to find her sitting cross-legged with herself hunched over. She held her head in her hands. The teen’s leg bounced. Part of her clothes had ripped on the back, making room for wings that closely resembled a peregrine falcon’s. “What did you do?” Asked Stephen. 

“I attempted to eradicate the bird part of me,” she told him. Finally allowed another tear to fall. “I have been going over this for months, and have decided that I don’t want to turn into a peregrine just to live a short life of twelve to fifteen years. Hell, I should have permanently become a bird already… I’m not ready to go. To turn.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” her adopted father told her, going on his knees and bringing her into a hug. Slowly, her arms wrapped around him. “I-I’m sure we can find a way to reverse this-”

“I’m not so sure I want to do that,” she told him. 

“What?” he asked, pulling away in order to face his child. 

“I’ll still be able to fly.” she smiled weakly.

“Alya-”

“I know, but I want to be able to keep these wings.”

“A concealment spell then so that you will only be able to unleash them when you want to show them or use them. Just say a certain phrase,” he came up with.

“The Scottish Gaelic spell?”

“Yes.”

Alya took a minute to think it over and nodded. The two of them went to another part of the building to complete the spell. Stephen had her sit cross-legged while he made a circle of salt around her. He then formed a blue Tao Mandala over her head as he said, “Falaich am mallachd.”

Her wings slowly started to disappear. When they were finally invisible, Stephen said, “Nochdaidh.” The wings appeared. “Falaich.” They disappeared again. He then touched her forehead as she said both words. This was a transfer in the power to control the wings.

* * *

Alya tried to get a handle on her new wings by just having them out as she walked around. The downside to having these, however, is that she either has to cut slits on the back of her shirts, or cut the sleeves off and cut down the side of the shirt.

Once she got comfortable enough with them just walking around, she went outside and started to flap her wings, just to get a feel for flying like that. Working up the courage to actually fly, she made her wings lift herself up off the ground. Alya just tried hovering for a minute. Often times she lost focus or her balance was off. Yet, when she finally got it, she was actually able to stay up in the air for two minutes before falling. Feeling tired, she stretched out her wings a little before concealing them and heading inside.

She kept herself up at night, just wondering. Thinking things over. If Draco found out about her wings, he’d probably hold that secret over her head like a sword more so than her maledictus secret. He’d think more of her as a freak than he already did. Luna would be fine with it. She can just accept the strangest of things. Marcella might have a little bit of a harder time, so might the golden trio. Maybe, she can keep this secret extra guarded? But they expect her to fully turn into a bird. They might very well be disappointed in her.

* * *

It got to be right around Christmas when Alya decided to contact her Gryffindor friends via fireplace. Knowing that none of her friends would be at Hogwarts since Harry would most likely go to the Burrow for the holiday, she contacted the Weasleys.

“Well, don’t you three seem awkward,” she said as she saw Harry, Ginny, and Ron. 

“Alya?” Harry questioned. Unsure of how she could contact them this way. “Are you alright? Where are you?”

“I’m fine. All you need to know is that I’m safe. My people and I are taking care of things here,” the Ravenclaw answered them.

“Alya, do you want me to get Lupin and Hermione?” Ginny asked her, standing up from her spot on the couch. “They’re around here somewhere.”

“Sure,” the dark-haired teen answered her. “So, how’s school been since I’ve been gone?”

“Alright. Draco is definitely up to something, but now it involves Snape-“ Harry cut himself off. “I don’t really know if I should trust him or not.”

“Okay,” Alya considered. “And what does Snape have to do with all this?”

“They’re saying that he offered to help Draco with whatever task Voldemort asked him to do, but only so that Snape could tell the Order what the task was.”

“So then, he _is_ still a double agent,” Alya thought out loud. She then looked at the two teenage boys. “Oh, did you not know?”

“No, we did, but we just assumed that you didn’t,” Harry told her. “When did you find out?”

“When you told him about Padfoot in Umbridge’s office,” she answered.

“I hope they’ve been able to take all that pink off the walls,” Lupin stated as he entered. “How are you Alya?”

“I’m good, Lupin,” she said to him, seeing him come into the frame of fire.

“Your friends informed me of your situation. Are you alright?”

“Yes, sir. Quite so.”

“Have you contacted Marcella?” The Ravenclaw shook her head.

"What's going to happen to Sirius' house?" she asked them. "Do we know?"

“Alya!” Came a voice from her side of the call. “Supper’s being served with or without you! I've already tried calling you once!”

“Shit!” She muttered before projecting behind her, “Okay! I’ll be right down,” she said in her American accent. “I have to go. It was nice talking to you guys. Bye!” With that, she ended the call and rushed down the steps.


	29. Trigon Part 3: Kanin and The Second Attack

A few days had passed. Alya felt like a caged bird. Everyone watched her with those eyes. The glances that tell her that she’s a freak. They tell her that she caused the Trigon mess. Wanting to get away from it all, she snuck out. It’s February 24, loads of people will be celebrating the new year out in the streets. This is a part of the world where not many wizards and witches live here. So, there isn’t any cause for concern over death eaters. She even got pulled into one of the dances. That’s where she found Kanin.

Kanin is a teen her age who lives in Kamar-Taj. He doesn’t have any family members. Alya doesn’t see him around much, as he mostly spends his time away from the Monastery. He does know Mystic Arts, but he doesn’t want to become (as he puts it) one of those soldiers. He’s the type who would wear black jeans under his robes.

The two of them ended up being partnered for the majority of the dance. After that, they hung out.

The two of them walked down the street. Venders of food, clothes, and artisanal things line the road. “I’m surprised to find you out here,” Kanin told her. “I would have thought that Stephen would keep a closer eye on you and keep you at the Monastery.”

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t stand being there for one more minute,” she said to him.

“Can’t say I blame you. I heard what happened.” 

Alya gave out a small breathy laugh. “At this point, who hasn’t?”

“Only the rest of the entire world,” he said jokingly. He placed his hands behind his head and looked up at the stars. “So, how’s… what’s its name… Hogwarts?”

“It was pretty great. I almost didn’t want to leave. If I hadn’t, then they would all either be in danger or dead.” Unbeknownst to her, her English accent started to slip out.

Kanin looked at her. “Is that an accent I hear?”

“Why yes, yes it is,” she responded with a smile. He smiled back. “Well anyway, it was really cool and fun for a while.”

“Did the fun and coolness stop?”

“No, it just…” she struggled to explain. “It has its ups and downs, I guess is what I’m trying to say,” she almost questioned herself.

“How so?”

“Well, the first year was fine, the second year was kind of scary because a basilisk was loose in the castle petrifying muggle-born students, and in the third-“

“Wait. Back up a minute. The hell is a basilisk?” He stopped walking. Noticing this, she stopped too.

“It’s a giant snake that has the ability to petrify, or make froze, the kids who are muggle-born.” Noting that he still looked confused she continued to explain, “children with non-magic parents?” His face signifies that he seemed to get it.

“So… in the Wizarding world… people have to be born with magical power?” He guessed.

“Correct.”

“Were you ever petrified?” 

“No, but I thought that I could have been. I’m pretty sure that I’m at least a half-blood, given that my mom passed down the blood curse that was turning into a bird… they call it being a Maledictus. I quite prefer it to the term mutant.”

“Really? How does the blood curse work anyway?”

“Well, either my mom... or my mom’s mom or one of my great great grandmothers was presumably cursed by another witch. The curse as it turned out is hereditary. Plus, after a certain number of years, they permanently become that animal.”

“But… don’t peregrines only live for fifteen years? How did the women in your family survive past that?”

“Supposedly, there is some magic in America that made them able to stall the permanent transformation. I can only stop it by using the pendant,” she grasped the necklace. “Or could, anyway.”

Kanin looked around. “Come on,” he took her hand in his and led her away from the crowd. “You’re beautiful, you know that?” He stepped somewhat closer to her. “You can let your guard down around me. You can let your wings out. I won’t make any judgments or look at you the way the others do.”

“Really?” She asked him, not believing in his statement. “Nochdaidh.” Slowly, her wings materialized. “How about now?”

“It makes no difference to me. If anything, I think the wings make you more special, they’re so pretty looking too. Hey, if anyone says different, call me so that I can beat them up.”

Alya almost smiled. “I can take care of myself, but thanks.” She concealed her wings. As the two of them walked back, she filled him in on the other years of her life. He listened and questioned what he didn’t understand.

“You know, I missed having you around,” he said as he put an arm around her. They were now back in the crowds.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I always liked to hear your stories.” 

“I missed being around here.”

All of a sudden, one of his friends called him over for a breakdancing competition.

She watched as Kanin seemed to have better moves than the younger teen. A smile made its way towards her lips. 

Then, the gem whispered. 

Alya looked around to find that a shadow demon had possessed a small boy. The shadow told her in its own demonic language that Trigon was waiting. He then pointed in the opposite direction they were facing.

 _“How can he be here?”_ She wondered as she walked in that direction with a curiosity hanging about.

The gem led her to an alleyway. Four shadow demons surrounded her.

“He wants you,” one of them stated.

“Her father is near,” another one said.

“No. That can’t be true,” Alya stated, readying herself to fight them.

“It is me, child,” came an echoey voice. A shadowy figure with horns levitated up to her.

“How?” Cortez questioned.

“I would like to speak with my daughter,” the figure said.

Slowly, Raven’s soul came together and took over Alya’s body. The hair of the vessel turned purple, as did the eyes. Alya’s consciousness was pushed back and put in the passenger seat. She was able to watch the following conversation. “How are you here?” She asked her father.

“Never leave unfinished what you start,” he told her, coming closer. “You fled.”

“I saved what could be saved, and left. I had to.”

“Yet, here I am.”

“If you were really here, I’d smell your stink. You’re still trapped in that void where a realm once was. All you can send are these losers.”

“I will be there, it’s our destiny to be together Raven. We’re family.”

“And it’s Alya’s destiny to stop you.”

“We are still family. You will bring me back.”

“And we will fight you every step. You’re an abomination.”

“Watch your tongue, you ungrateful girl!” The entity yelled at her. He then dissipated into four demon eyes floating in the sky. The shadow demons commenced their attack.

Raven made a shield for herself and said, “Mother if Azarath, give me strength!” The demons and her father’s eyes disappeared from view, but she knew they were still there. She let Alya take the reins.

With her wand out, she cast her Patronus charm to chase away the demons. It worked for the most part. She had to cast a Reducto here and there. When there was too much, Alya sent up a Vermillious spell. The red spark signifies needing aid. She then created a mirror dimension which only sorcerers could enter.

Not even a minute later, Kanin and some of the other Masters of the Mystic Arts came to help.

They fought off as many as they could for a while. “So, what are these?” Kanin asked her during the skirmish.

“Just a bunch of undead shadow demons, nothing to be afraid of,” Alya responded as she wordlessly cast a Reducto. She sent a few others into buildings with a depulso spell.

“Nothing to be afraid of,” he mocked in a sarcastic voice. 

When the numbers got to be a lot, the all former a giant shield around themselves, keeping Alya in the middle.

“We can’t keep this up for long,” one of them said.

“Then break it. I have an idea.” They looked between each other, unsure.

“Just trust me,” she urged. They let the Tao Mandala shield fall. “Get down! Mother of Azarath, give me strength! Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” A bright white light consumed the space around them before imploding, then exploding, killing all of the shadow demons.

“Are they gone?” Another one asked, cautiously looking around.

“Yes,” Alya answered. “They’re gone. I can longer sense them.”

With that all taken care of, some of the group went out into the streets to celebrate while Alya and Kanin went back to the Monastery.


	30. Trigon Part 4: Conversing With Her Friends and The Third Attack

Two weeks have passed since the attack. Doctor Strange forbade her from going outside the Monastery. She doesn’t really mind it. There are books that she can fill her time with. Not to mention that she can also probably contact Harry and the others most any time she wants. 

Just the other day, she contacted them by fireplace.

“So, how’ve you been since I last contacted you?” Alya asked the trio.

“Okay,” Ron answered. He sat on the couch while the other two sat on the floor. “The Burrow was attacked by Bellatrix LeStrange and Fenrir Greyback, they burned the place to the ground.”

“Ron, I’m so sorry,” she said to him.

“It’s alright,” he said.

“Alya, have you ever heard of the spell Sectumsempra?” Harry asked, not looking up from his book.

“Yes, I have. The spell is… it’s like if a sword pierced right through your body, but you can’t see it,” she explained.

“And how come you know of the spell?” Hermione asked. “I’ve never heard of it. Besides, I’ve been telling Harry for weeks to turn that book in.”

“Right, well, I’m, does he have the textbook that belonged to the half-blood prince?” Cortez questioned.

“Yes,” Potter replied. “Why?”

“I took the book from the classroom one time and read it through in my free time,” she responded.

“Of course you did,” Ron sighed, Alya just let it go.

“Anyway, there was this holiday party at Hogwarts that wasn’t all that fun,” Hermione carries on with the conversation.

“Oh really? And why’s that?” Alya questioned.

“She’s only saying that because she invited Cormac to go with her,” Ron told the Ravenclaw.

“Seriously?” Alya gave a quizzical look to Granger.

“Yeah. I tried to avoid him most of the time,” she confessed.

“Then why did you invite him?” The dark haired teen girl asked.

“I don’t know,” Hermione told her, making Alya smile and laugh a little bit.

“St the event…” Harry started saying. “Snape came up to me and told me that Dumbledore is traveling, and that he won’t be back until the end of the term.”

“Interesting,” Cortez said. “Did he give you his reasons?”

“No,” said the teen with the lightening scar. “That was all he told me.”

Alya’s lips parted as she nodded slowly, saying, “Okay.”

“Then, Filch burst in with Draco, saying that he was snooping around in the upper corridors,” Potter continued. “Snape ended up escorting him back.”

“I see,” Alya said. “And do we know what the Death Eaters have tasked him to do?”

“No,” they all said simultaneously.

“Anything else exciting happen?” 

“Poor Ron’s been hurt more than once in these past two months,” Harry stated.

“Oh?” Alya’s interest was piqued.

“Yeah. Some girl sent me these chocolates and a love letter on Valentine’s Day,” Ron filled in the blanks. “Harry ended up taking me to Slughorn to get me cured.”

“And then he got poisoned after drinking some poisoned oak-matured Mead intended for Dumbledore,” Hermione said with slight annoyance.

“Oh no, and how are you feeling now, you alright?” Alya asked him.

“Yeah. Thank you for asking,” the Weasley boy said to her.

“Alright. Now I must be going. I promised Kanin I’d meet him in the secluded courtyard. Bye!” She stopped the fire call before they could ask any questions.

* * *

Kanin spends more and more time in Kamar-Taj now than before. If nothing else, to keep Alya company. With him, she’s been working on her flying slowly. Now, she can pretty much fly for about thirty minutes before her stamina runs out. She feels as though she has to keep improving this.

The Ravenclaw just died to do a trick when she failed. “What do I keep telling you?” Kanin asks her.

“Master the basics before trying any fancy stuff,” Alya said as if she’d heard it about a million times.

“Right,” he said, getting his stopwatch out. “Now all you have to do today is beat thirty minutes.”

With a nod, she took flight. The feelings of the wind against her wings had finally started to feel nice. She banked around the courtyard a few times before going up and diving down, releasing her wings to catch herself from crashing into the ground.

It wasn’t long during their session before they were interrupted. Three officials of the Grand Magic Council who work at what used to be the Ancient One’s house had come by. Presumably to take Alya away.

Strange met them as they came up to the teens. Alya stepped closer to Kanin and wrapped her hands around his arm. She didn’t want to go.

“What are you doing here?” Stephen questioned them.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’ve come to collect your daughter,” one of them said. 

“No, you’re not,” Doctor Strange protested. “She’s perfectly safe here.”

“Clearly not as there was an attack during the New Years' festival,” the second one said.

“That was one thing,” Strange told them. “She needs to stay here.”

“Doctor Strange, not only will she be better protected with us, but we are better equipped with taking care of Trigon,” the third one stated.

All of a sudden, Alya stumbles slightly and holds her temples with her hand. Kanin got her steady, asking, “Are you okay?”

“They’re here. I don’t know how they broke through the barrier, but they’re here,” she said to them. “They wanted these officials to come here.”

“What do you mean?” Kanin questioned.

“Look,” she muttered. Shadows seemed to slither in the ground right up to the officials.

All of their appearances changed. Their skin turned red, they grew horns and another pair of eyes.

Immediately, Kanin thought of protecting Alya. He placed a Tao Mandala shield around her as he created Eldritch whips to fight them off. Strange duplicated himself and conducted many Tao Mandalas to use as shurikens.

When the sheiks broke, Alya busted out her wand casting three different spells for the three possessed officials, “Stupify! Petrificus Totalus! Levicorpus!” The last one she kept in the air for a while. She let him drop when the one she cast stupify at bounced back. Strange caught the falling man by using the air around him to slow. To the one still moving, she cast, “Incarcerous!” Ropes shot out from her wand and wrapped themselves around the possessed official. All of a sudden, a levitating shadow zipped through the air. She cast a Reducto at it, but missed.

The shadow demon-possessed Kanin and threatened Stephen's life if she didn’t go with them to Trigon’s realm. After much thought and much protesting from Stephen, she accepted. The possessed Kanin opened up a portal and the two of them walked through it.


	31. Trigon Part 5: The Demon's Downfall

Possessed Kanin led her to a massive stone archway. Stairs go up the middle towards a smaller one.

“Lord Trigon is waiting,” the possessed teen told her as he stepped to the side and bowed.

“Nochdaidh,” she said. With her wings now out, the girl then flew up to the top of the stairs. There must have been beyond two hundred of them.

When she landed on the platform in front of the top step, the wind picked up fast. Had to move her hand up to her eyes to keep them from watering. Four red eyes appeared in the small, circular archway. “There better not be any trickery girl! If you want any mercy shown to your friends.” Trigon said to her. 

“No tricks,” Alya told him. “Please, just leave this world alone.”

“And thwart destiny?” Trigon questioned. “I think not.”

Something seemed to take control of her body. A pulsing pain erupted from her pendant. Suddenly, the girl became two. Alya glanced to her right to see Raven in her demon form. Red skin and four black eyes. She wore a navy blue cloak and the Charoite gem of Azarath. Both of them tried to fight the control, but the power they felt could not be ignored. They levitated and flew to the center of both circular archways, opening the portal. Then, they came across the gate that blocked him from Earth. They made the gate crumble. The ground opened up to them as they landed on a red surface.

“What now?” Alya asked her incarnation. This had been part of her plan all along. Although, granted she didn’t know who she was going to split herself from Raven. Yet, the more people who can help her fight against her father, the better.

“Now,” Raven said, “We find the center.” Her voice was at a low pitch.

As they walked through what seemed to be the endless red terrain, Alya spoke, “If you have fully manifested outside of my body, then how am I still alive?”

“You must have more than one soul reincarnated into yourself,” she answered. “Only half of my soul was reincarnated into you.”

All of a sudden, something grabbed Alya’s foot and wouldn’t let go. “What the-“

“Oh, I didn’t have time to mention,” Raven started to explain. “This realm doesn’t like anything that’s foreign. Like yourself.”

“Good to know,” Alya stated before casting a Reducto at the strange red earth. All the while she thought of how Trigon could be unleashing his wrath of destruction upon the world. She knew that the Sorcerers would take care of him to the best of their abilities, but would the Wizarding World even know that this was happening? Would the no-mag world know? Or would they just pick up on random strange phenomena that seem to have no correlation whatsoever.

As they kept getting deeper, the two of them noticed more and more red, four-eyed creatures. Some of them looked like dire wolves. Those were easiest to dodge sight of. The next group of red and four-eyes creatures they encountered were wyverns. Unfortunately, they were spotted by those. Their fire was easy enough to dodge, their claws were slightly harder. Next were the lindworm dragons. Those were quite fast. After them were the chimeras. The hardest ones to get by.

One way on how they could tell if they were closer to the center or not was the amount of the creatures. They only got noticed by one group of them. Alya sadly resorted to casting Reducto and Sectumsempra at a bunch of them. 

Once they got to the actual center, which was a fortress, they were greeted by the shadow demons. They welcomed Raven, but shunned Alya. Only by Raven’s good graces was she allowed in the fortress. It’s nine stories high. In the center of the building on the ground floor was a giant levitating red gem. 

“This is what we need to contain Trigon,” Raven told her. She went up to touch it, but it was shattered by an Eldritch whip. The weirder of which turned out to be Kanin.

“He must have followed us in,” Alya stated. “I’ll protect you, you just focus on getting him contained.” She placed a shield around her while deflecting attacks from Kanin and the other shadow demons.

Then, they could both hear him. Trigon was only speaking with Raven, but Alya could hear him too. She assumed it was due to her being his daughter’s reincarnation. He was no doubt causing destruction in this very moment. “Stupid girl. You think your allies can stop me now that I’m here? These sorcerers are less than insects to me. And your little friend? That pathetic reincarnation? I will make her suffer. And you will have to watch.” 

What sounded like a strange version of Kanin’s voice had sounded, breaking Alya’s focus on Raven’s conversation with her father. “He hates you, you know,” the demon inside Kanin told her. Their Eldritch swords collided. The other demons seemed to hang back. “He wishes that you never came back.”

They exchanged blows. Dodging all of the attacks of their opponent. Finally, she managed to push him back. “I find that hard to believe.”

“He’s a good manipulator then,” the demon decided, summoning another Eldritch sword. He was about to attack when Alya jumped back. 

“Levicorpus!” She cast. The witch made him float in the air, unable to move. “Damnit, Kanin. Push him out!”

In an effort to free him, the other demons launched themselves at her. It worked, however. The spell broke and he fell to the floor. Just as the other demons were about to retrieve him, Alya cast, “Expecto Patronum!” Her peregrine Patronus chased them all away. 

Just as possessed Kanin was about to attack her, she cast, “Petrificus Totalus!” He froze. Knowing that she didn’t have much time, she placed her fingertips on his temples. “Remember who you are, Kanin.” A flood of memories rushed through them. Kanin soon regained control and pushed the demon out.

“Thank you, Alya,” Kanin told her as if out of breath. The Ravenclaw smiled as she cured her precious spell. She then helped him up.

“Alya! I need you!” Raven shouted from her force field that surprisingly hasn’t broken. 

“I need you to keep them at bay,” Cortez said to Kanin as she ran towards Raven. The witch entered the force field. A single tiny shard of the giant red gem floated about. 

The two girls nodded, knowing the spell. They simultaneously said, “Noreck Anek Rakuta. Noreck Anek Rakuta. Noreck Anek Rakuta! Noreck Anek Rakuta!” Raven levitated while Alya flew in place. “Grant us the strength, mighty Azarath, to contain the demon Trigon within this sacred shard. Now and forever!” Dark magic shot out from the gem, reaching far outside the realm. Within a minute, it came back, it’s final destination in the gem. Trigon screamed as he was dragged into the red gem.

Suddenly, Alya, Raven, and Kanin were the only beings left in the fortress. “What now?” Asked Alya. “We’ve split.”

“That we have,” Raven stated. The red shard sat in her hand. Her eyes stared at it. “I would like to remain here. He needs to be watched.”

Kanin and Alya glanced at each other before Alya walked up to her. “You don’t have to stay here to keep an eye on him,” the Ravenclaw stated. “You don’t have to watch him alone. Please. Come back with us to Kamar-Taj.”

Raven became silent as she seemed to ponder her words. She then began to take off the pendant. Cortez held her arms, signifying for her to stop. “That belongs to you. You should keep it.”

“Thank you,” she said as Kanin sling ringed a portal back to Kamar-Taj.

When they got there, they found that the three officials, Stephen, and Wong were conversing. It stopped when they noticed the three almost young adults walk up to them.

“The problem is taken care of, I take it?” One of the official’s questioned.

“Yes, sir,” Alya stated. The officials then said their goodbyes and went away. The five that were left stood there in awkward silence before Alya realized, “Oh, right. Dad, Wong this is-“

“Raven,” Strange interrupted her, moving to shake her hand. Wong did the same. “How is this possible?” The master asked the teens. “Aren’t you the reincarnation of her?”

“Yes, but our souls split somehow,” Raven answered.

“Let me go find you a room where you can stay,” Strange offered. Raven allowed it, walking back inside the building. Wong followed.

Kanin and Alya were alone in the courtyard. Things were silent for a moment. “Damn it, It’s not the end of the school year,” Cortez realized

“So?” Kanin questioned.

“So, I don’t want to go back to school.”

“Then don’t go,” he replied. She looked at him as if he were crazy. “What? You just helped save the world. You deserve it.”

“I guess I do, huh.” She then walked away, leaving a slightly confused seventeen-year-old boy standing around in the middle of the courtyard like a dumbass.

“Where are you going?” He called after her, jogging to catch up.

“I don’t know, maybe to the library?”

“You just decided not to go back to school and the first thing you do is go to a library? Who does that?”

“Me, apparently.”

“Fair enough.” 

When they got to the entrance of the building, Alya stopped. She said, “You know you don’t have to come with me, right?”

“I do, I just like spending time with you.”

Alya wondered how her friends at school were fairing. All things considered, they might actually be doing worse. She did help save the world this year. One thing’s for certain. She’s going to miss being able to talk to Raven in her head, but it’s nice to have a physical manifestation of a woman she had only heard the voice of.

Next year, may very well be the beginning of the end. So she might as well learn a couple of new spells while she’s away.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m working on the final part so stay tuned!


	32. Hogwarts Year Seven Pt. 1: Finding the Golden Trio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m finally back and this time with more chapters for the final part!

It’s been a few months since she’s been away from the monastery. After the whole shebang with Trigon, she somehow felt out of place, like she wasn’t her whole self. Alya chose to run away from it all, try to find herself by traveling the world. Both worlds, human, and magical. 

She succeeded in bringing down the demon, but also succeeded in separating her soul from Raven’s. She’s the one who now holds the Charoite Gem of Azarath and the one who now keeps watch over Trigon, who is trapped in a shard of a sacred gem.

Alya has also been able to fly for at least a few hours and has been able to for quite a while now. She’s also made sure that she was alone when bringing her wings out. Cortez does _not_ want people to start hunting her again because they think of her as a mutant or a witch (even though she is one).

For some reason, Alya’s barely slept. Plus, she feels as if a fever was developing. Why she didn’t stop in some random town is beyond her. The eighteen year old celebrated her birthday alone.

One thing that she has noticed during her time by herself is how amazingly she can combine her wand with her mystic arts. Especially with attack spells.The girl also found that she could infuse some mystic arts mana into her wand. Luckily, her wand took kindly to the magic. Before some of the spells are even cast, a Tao Mandala appears in front of her wand, and the spell shoots from there. Plus, now she can make Eldritch whips and Eldrich swords with her wand being the hilt. Alya’s also found it much simpler to make an umbrella with her wand than to conjure one. Most if not all of her spells are more powerful because of the infusion.

Once, Kanin said that sometimes, to get rid of your own problems, it helps to solve someone else’s. She’ll be damned if she doesn't help Harry and the others.

She could go back to school. It’s only October. Yet, something just tells her that she should stay away this year. Yet, why should she stay away? She wants to graduate. Her attempts to find them at school were futile. The girl made sure that no one saw her by using a concealment spell. Alya’s not quite ready to go back to school yet. Especially since it’s being run by Death Eaters as she found out. The teen heard bits and pieces about destroying horcruxes from the members of Dumbledore’s Army and from some members of The Order (before coming into the school). She also stopped by the infirmary to grab an elixir for her fever that she hasn’t bothered to take care of.

While she was there at the school, Alya managed to grab a few things to make a locator spell. Once she got the trio’s exact location, the teen was surprised to find that nothing was there except a forest. 

Then, she spotted some strange flickering. Upon walking up to it, she found that it was a force field. “Hermione, you clever witch,” she said as she stepped through the barrier.

As she stepped through, she found a big tent. Upon walking around it, Alya found them all having breakfast. “Well, look at you lot, backpacking in a forest, and not attending your classes.”

“Alya, hey,” Harry greeted warmly as he got up to hug her. They embraced before Cortez let go to greet the others. 

“Alya,” Hermione said as she stood up to hug her. “What are you doing here?” 

“What? I can’t see my friends?” She asked, hugging the female. She then moved to hug Ron, who had his left arm in a sling.

Granger thought it over a bit before asking, “Well, if you’re here, then does that mean that Trigon-?”

Alya cut her off, “Yes. Yes it does.”

“Shouldn’t you be in school then?” Ron asked her.

“Well, yes, but I heard from the grape vine that you people are looking for... Voldemort’s horcruxes? You need all the help you can get. Besides, the school is crawling with Death Eaters.”

“Thank you Alya,” Harry stated with a smile.

The four of them set up another bed for Alya to sleep in. They offered her breakfast, but she said that she already had some. The trio brought her up to speed. They told her how the Death Eaters have basically taken over the Ministry, how muggle born witches and wizards are being hunted down by the ministry and persecuted. They even replaced the Prime Minister. They then told of how the Order helped the trio escape, and how they snuck into the ministry to grab the Horcrux off of Umbridge’s neck.

* * *

The next day, they tried to destroy the locket. The four of them lined up horizontally. All of them are unsure of what to cast. 

“You first,” Hermione said to Harry. 

He stepped closer and cast, “Descendo!” Probably to see if it would fall to the ground and break. They all step towards it. Nothing happened to it except for going from the log to the leaves.

“Incendio,” Hermione cast. It burst into flames, but didn’t burn. The fire quickly died out.

Alya stepped up to it and cast a spell that none of the other three mages recognized. “Pagoe!” (pag-o-ay) A red Tao Mandala appeared in front of her wand before a small red spark burst from it. It crashed into the locket. Ordinarily, the object struck with the spark would become a million different pieces on impact. Not for the locket.

“What kind of spell was that?” Ron asked from his spot which was way behind the other three. It was then Alya realized that he hadn’t moved or possibly even cared about destroying the locket. Or, he does, he just thinks that something’s off.

“It’s a Korean destruction spell,” she answered him. He chose to leave it at that.

“Depulso. Reducto!” Harry tried, making Alya turn towards him. He cast Reducto a few more times without words. Finally, it burst into flames and whistled before the fire died down. The Chosen One then placed the locket around his neck.

“What are you doing?” Hermione asked him.

“We have to keep it safe until we find out how to destroy it,” he answered.

“Seems strange, mate,” Ron interjected. “Dumbledore sends you off to find all these Horcruxes, but doesn’t tell you how to destroy them? Doesn’t that bother you?”

Harry looked at him and just walked away. Alya decided to follow. “Harry,” she said almost softly. The teen turned around sharply. He looked as if he was pissed, but the expression was soon replaced by relief and kindness.

“Hey Alya,” he said to her. Wordless conversation seemed to take hold. Cortez looked at him as if she was worried about him and scared. He took her in his arms. The two of them stayed like that for what seemed like forever.

* * *

The day after, close to what felt like seven O’clock at night, Hermione was cutting Harry’s hair while Ron laid down close to the radio, the locket strung around his neck. Alya read The Arabian Nights. She heard Hermione realize something, and glanced up to see Harry follow after her. To that, she paid no mind. She did, however, pay mind to how Ron looked. 

His expression was covered and hatred and he gave off a pissed vibe. “Come on,” she urged him to get up. She was trying to get him over to the table so that he could be in the discussion. Yet it seemed that the discussion was already had. 

“There’s only one problem,” Harry said to Hermione.

Ron took away the light in the tent. “The sword was stolen.” He then brought the light back into the room. “Yeah. I’m still here, but don’t let me spoil the fun.” Alya felt the tensions rise. She hated this kind of atmosphere.

“What’s wrong?” Harry questioned as he turned to his friends. Ron and Alya stood side by side.

“Nothing’s wrong, well according to you, anyway,” the ginger wizard answered.

“If you’ve got something to say, don’t be shy...” Harry told him.

Alya scoffed and rolled her eyes. _“Don’t be shy?”_ She repeated in her mind. _“Do you realize how you sound?”_

“Spit it out,” the dark-haired male said. The Ravenclaw resisted the urge to roll her eyes again.

“Alright, I’ll spit it out,” Ron stated. “But don’t expect me to be grateful just because there’s another damn thing we’ve got to find.”

“I thought you knew what you signed up for,” Harry said to him.

“Yeah, I thought I did too.” Alya and Hermione glanced at each other.

“Well, look, I’m sorry,” Potter said as he stood and walked over to his friend. “But I don’t quite understand. What part of this isn’t living up to your expectations? Did you think we would be staying at a five-star hotel, finding a Horcrux every other day? You thought you’d be back with your mom by Christmas?”

“I just thought after all this time, we would have actually achieved something. I thought you knew what you were doing. I thought Dumbledore would have told you something worthwhile. I thought you had a plan.” Hermione walked up to them.

“I told you everything Dumbledore told me, and In case you haven’t noticed, we found a Horcrux already.” Potter pointed to the locket around Ron’s neck.

“Yeah, and we’re about as close to getting rid of it as we are finding the rest of them, aren’t we?”

Hermione tried to take the locket off of him. “Ron,” she said. He swatted her away. “Please take off the Horcrux. You wouldn’t be saying any of this if you hadn’t been wearing it all day.”

“You don’t know why I listen to that radio every night, do you?” Ron asked them. “It’s to make sure I don’t hear Ginny’s name, Fred’s George’s or mum’s.”

“You think I’m not listening too? You think I don’t know how it feels?! I had been listening not to hear Alya’s name! Nor Ginny’s, nor any of our other friends!!”

“Well, Alya’s right here, isn’t she? While everyone else is in that sorry excuse for a school. Besides, they’re not your family. Your parents are dead! You have no family!”

They seemed as though they were about to get into a fistfight. Hermione and Alya yelled at them to stop. “Alright fine then go!” Harry shouted. The two of them broke apart. “Go then!”

Ron took off the locket and threw it on the ground. As he began to grab his things, Hermione tried to get him to stay. 

“And you,” Ron said to Hermione. His bag was slung over his shoulder as he stood by the door of the tent. “Are you coming or staying?” No words were said as she looked back at Harry. “Fine, I get it. I saw you too the other night.” The ginger-haired boy looked between the three of them. “Make up your mind, mate.” He looked at Harry.

“Ron, that-that was nothing,” Hermione said as she followed him out to try and bring him back in.

Alya chose to leave Harry alone in the tent as she found a spot outside where she can meditate. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos,” she repeated over and over again. Even though those words can do nothing for her now, the magic in those words had never left her. The sounds of a song on the radio and some form of laughter came to her ears fifteen minutes later. Alya recognizes the song as “O Children” by Nick Caves & The Black Seeds. The lyrics tell of the older generation screwing up. The singer tells the children that only they can fix it. She thought it somewhat fitting. The older Order of the Pheonix only did so much to Voldemort's army. Now, it was their turn to finish the job.


	33. Hogwarts Year Seven Pt. 2: Alya’s Story, and Godric’s Hollow

It’s been a week and none of them have seen or heard anything from Ron. Hermione was starting to get worried. “He’ll come back,” Alya told them once. “I know he will.”

One day, while they had dinner, Hermione spoke. “You never did tell us what was really going on.”

“Nor did you ask,” Alya responded, not looking up from her food. 

“Okay, so what happened?” Harry questioned, turning to face her. The three of them sat at the table. Granger sat on one side while Harry and Alya sat on the other.

“So… those things that attacked Hogwarts right before I left. Those were shadow demons” The Ravenclaw started off. “Servants of Trigon… they tried to get me to come with them.”

“But you beat them, right?” Harry questioned, second guessing what he once thought.

“Yes, I did,” she responded. “And I left to protect you people.” She paused. “Stephen, Wong, and I ended up going back to this Monastery in Tibet. The place where everyone first learns the mystic arts… I wasn’t really allowed to venture out of the Monastery, as a protective shield kept me out of sight. Of course, the one time I do get out, I get attacked by demons. Then, because I ventured out, officials of the Mystic Arts community came to take me away, but accidentally got themselves possessed by demons. All because of me. Not very Ravenclaw of me, is it?”

The other two didn’t answer, they just smiled slightly.

“Anyway,” she continued. “The possessed threatened upon Stephen’s life. I went with them to this gateway… where myself and Raven split.”

“Wait, Raven as en the girl trapped inside the gem and half reincarnated into you?” Hermione questioned.

“Yes,” Alya answered.

“How is that even possible?” The brightest witch wondered.

“We’re not really sure, but… together, we managed to trap the demon lord in a shard of a sacred jewel.”

“Wait a minute,” Hermione stopped her. “Where’s your pendant?”

“It’s with Raven. It’s hers.”

“Those magic circles that appear before your wand before certain spells, is that the mystic arts?” Harry questioned.

“Yes. Yes it is. While on this journey of self-discovery I was able to fuse the Magic’s,” she responded.

“One more thing,” Harry stated. “Who’s Kanin?” The two of them were patient for her answer.

“Just an old friend who promised to help me with something.” Her eyes widened in realization. “I should probably let them know that I’m alright. I’ll be right back.” She jogged out of the tent and brought out her wand. A green Tao Mandala appeared in front of her wand. “A aduce viață,” she cast an old Wallachian spell that brought the leaves on the ground into the shape of a person. “Go to Kamar-Taj. Tell them I’m alright, but do _not_ tell them where I am.”

The silhouette nodded and floated away with the wind.

Alya turned to see her friends standing right behind her. She jumped slightly. “Oh! Jesus, you scared me.”

“Sorry,” Harry stated.

“What spell was that?” Hermione questioned.

“A Wallachian spell that brings leaves, or petals into a living silhouette. It can talk too,” the black haired Ravenclaw answered.

“Is that a mystic spell, or a hungarian wizarding spell?”Granger asked.

“It’s a mystic arts spell that originated in Wallachia.”

“By the way Alya,” Hermione stepped closer to her carrying the elixir for flu that Alya had stolen from Pomfrey. “Why didn’t you tell us?” She revealed her hold on the object.

“Why the hell have you been snooping through my bag?” Alya asked, taking the elixir. She took a sip. 

“I wasn’t snooping. It was out.”

“Sure.” Alya stood there for a moment wondering. “Why did you guys even come out here anyway?”

“Well, I had been doing some thinking,” Hermione stated. “What if, since you don’t have the pendant, you’ll turn into a peregrine falcon permanently, sooner rather than later.”

“‘Mione,” Alya said, arms crossing. “I had come to the same conclusion, and it’s taken care of. No need to worry. Let’s find that Horcrux, yeah?” The Ravenclaw went outside the tent while the two Gryffindors stayed outside glancing at each other. They then followed Cortez.

* * *

A few weeks later, Christmas had rolled around. The trio walked into Godric’s Hollow. They had decided to come through here for the sword and well, just to do it. Hermione however, was against it.

The three of them apparated into the middle of the street. The town almost looked deserted, save for the few dogs barking at each other.

“I still think we should have used polyjuice potion,” Hermione stated.

“I think we’re fine,” Alya said.

“This is where I was born, I wouldn’t like to turn into someone else,” Harry stated. Their voices were almost whispers.

The bell toned six times. 6 O’clock at night. Random people said goodbye to each other on the street. Carolers sang in the church. 

Hermione was focused on the singers in the church. Alya was focused on the emptiness of the streets. Harry was focused on the graveyard. He pulled both girls to his focus when he asked, “Do you think they’re in there? My mum and dad?”

“Probably, yeah,” Alya answered him. Wordlessly, The Boy Who Lived entered the cemetery. The two girls glanced at each other before following. They searched the graveyard, even brushing the snow off of some of the graves.

Hermione, thinking she found something projected lightly, “Hey, guys?” She looked up to find Harry standing in front of a large standing gravestone. Alya peered up at Hermione from afar to see what was up. The two girls then dropped it and walked towards Potter.

The grave he stared at was the grave of his parents.

Alya stepped forward to magically place a reef of lilies. The girls heard their friend sniffle. He said, “Merry Christmas guys.”

Alya and Hermione glanced at each other somberly before responding, “Merry Christmas, Harry.” “Merry Christmas.”

Alya’s head leaned on his shoulder. He leaned his head on hers.

The moment was ruined when Hermione told them in a whisper, “Guys, there’s someone watching us, down by the church.”

The two of them looked at the figure as she turned around. “I think I know who that is,” Potter stated.

The next thing the trio knew, they were filling her.

“I don’t like this, Harry,” Hermione voices in a whisper.

“‘Mione, she knew Dumbledore. She might have the sword,” the teen boy responded.

Their following became interrupted, however, by the sight of a destroyed house. Harry stared at it longer than the other two did. “This is where they died. This is where he murdered them.”

All of a sudden, the strange woman was right next to them. “You’re Bathilda, aren’t you?” Harry asked.

The woman merely nodded as she led them to her home. Once inside, she tried to light a candle, but Harry, being a gentleman, said, “Let me do that.” He did.

The boy still held the match when he asked, “Miss Bagshot, who is this man?”

She said nothing as she led him up the stairs. Hermione tried to warn him against it while Alya followed.

Once up there, the woman started saying something incoherent to Alya’s ears. Harry seemed to be listening though. She allowed the two of them to look at these pictures on the desk.

All of a sudden, there was a loud thud and hissing. The two of them turned around to see a snake. Most likely the snake that Harry saw in his dreams.

It attacked him through the walls, making him crash into the nursery of another home.

Alya used an Eldritch whip to yank the snake back into Bagshot’s house.

“Guys!” Hermione shouted, most likely seeing the blood of the woman through the floors. Alya cast a spell that knocked the animal onto the first floor. A scream was heard from Hermione. She cast an unspoken spell. All was quiet for a moment. 

The trio left Goodrich’s Hollow.


	34. Hogwarts Year Seven Pt. 3: Ronald’s return

The trio decided to camp out in a forest. Specifically, the Forest of Dean. Alya has woken up before both of them and decided to see if Hermione even put a shield around them this time. If not, she’d fly.

There wasn’t a shield. The sun had risen not too long ago. The clouds and sky had an orange tint. Alya revealed her large peregrine wings to no one and flew off through the crisp winter air.

The Ravenclaw hadn’t really had a chance to fly since joining them. The once Maledictus flew until the color of the sky was just blue.

Thinking that things will change (not for the better) when her friends see her enormous wings, Alya landed not too far from camp and walked.

When she came back, she heard Harry speak. “He’s the thief I saw at Gregorovich’s wand shop. Oh, hey Alya,” Harry stated when he saw her. “Where were you?”

“Oh, I just took a long walk around,” the Ravenclaw lied, turning her head to glance at the winter wonderland. “It’s beautiful out here. Anyway,” her attention turned to Hermione. “Who’s the man you saw at Gregorovich’s wand shop?”

“It’s Grindelwald,” Harry answered her, handing over the book.

“Ah yes, the great criminal of the 1920s,” Cortez stared out loud. Realizing this, she glanced at the other two who gave her weird looks. “What? You’ve never heard of Grindelwald?” She searched the book for the info she needed. Once she did, she sat in the middle of them and pointed to the paragraph. “Look, it says it right here that he went around the world, during or possibly before the First World War, killing no-majes. Sorry, muggles.”

“So he was like Voldemort?” Harry questioned.

“Precisely.”

“I wonder why he was even in Gregorovich’s wand shop.” Things were quiet for a moment. “Speaking of wands, where is mine?” He looked between the other two. Alya looked confused while Hermione had a bit of a pained expression. “Where’s my wand Hermione?”

After a few seconds, she exhaled and moved off of her jacket. In its pockets were his wand, broken in two. “As we were leaving Godrick’s Hollow, I cast a curse that rebounded… I’m sorry. I tried to mend it, but wands are difficult to-“

“It’s done,” Potter stated simply. “Leave me yours.” He got up from his spot by the tree. Go inside and get warm. I’ll take the locket as well.” He doesn’t trust as much as he did five minutes ago.

Hermione went inside, leaving the other two.

“Was that really necessary?” Alya questioned.

“Do you want to help me try to destroy the locket or no?” He asked, spitting out his words.

“If it didn’t work the last time, it won’t work this time. So no.” With that, she walked off. And then there was one.

She decided to spend most of the next few hours meditating. About an hour in, a distortion in temporal space appeared. Raven seemed to be on the other side of it. 

“Hello, Raven,” Alya greeted. The purple haired young woman did the same.

“You sent a bunch of leaves and didn’t call us?” She asked, somewhat mad at her.

“Out of all the people I would’ve expected Strange to call and say that,” Alya answered.

“Well, we did share half a soul for most of your life... What are you doing anyway? Wong got a bit worried when Hogwarts sent a letter saying that she didn’t show up to the castle.” (Alya left before school could start).

“Finding horcruxes that will hopefully be able to defeat Voldemort.”

“Right, the other dark lord. Stephen brought me up to speed on him. How are you feeling? Really. Have you found yourself yet?”

“I’m fine, I have a little bit of a fever, nothing an elixir can’t fix. Yet, I’m also anxious. None of them have seen my wings and I don’t know what they would say if they saw them.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out isn’t there?”

“Right.”

“Well, um, Kanin and I miss having you around.”

“I miss having you both around too.”

“Alright well. I’ll see you, I guess.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

* * *

That morning, Harry yelled for the two girls to come out of the tent.

“Is everything alright, Harry?” Hermione asked, projected, as she got up from bed. Alya was already out the door.

“It’s fine. Actually, It’s more than fine,” Harry told her.

Alya said nothing when she saw Ron standing there. She just smiled, walked up to him, and gave him a hug. He returned it. “It’s good to see you’re okay,” she finally told him when they broke the embrace.

“Yeah, you too. Have you been keeping these two in line?” He jokingly asked.

“As much as I could,” Cortez laughed.

All of a sudden, Hermione rushes out of the tent only to stop ten feet away from the ginger-haired boy. 

Ron’s face practically lit up as he said, “Hey.”

She marched forth, taking his bag off of his shoulder. “You complete. Ass. Ronald Weasley,” she threw leaves at him before moving to regrab his bag. “You show up here after _weeks._ ” The Gryffindor girl hit him with his bag. “And you say, hey?”

The girl abruptly turned to Harry asking, “Where’s my wand, Harry?” She walked up to him. Where’s my wand?”

Potter stepped back saying, “I don’t know.”

She picked up speed. “Harry Potter you give me my wand!”

“I don’t have it,” he said. His back was now up against a tree.

Angrily, Granger turned to Alya. “Alya,” she said in an almost threatening manner.

Calmly, Cortez questioned. “And what makes you think I would take it?”

“How come they’ve got your wand?” Ron asked, thoroughly confused now.

“Never mind why they’ve got my wand,” Granger responded. The Gryffindor turned to see that Ron had something in his hand. “What is that?”

Weasley let the locket—the broken locket dangle from his fingertips.

“You broke it?” Hermione guessed. She glanced at the other two. Alya shrugged. “And how is it that you happen to have the sword of Gryffindor?”

“... It’s a long story,” Harry spoke up.

Slowly, the angry girl turned to Potter. He didn’t say anything further than that. She then looked back at Ron saying, “Don’t think this changes anything.”

“Of course not,” Ron sarcastically told her. “I’ve only just destroyed a bloody Horcrux. Why would that change anything?” She turned to look at him again. “I wanted to come back as soon as I left. I just didn’t know how to find you.”

“Y-how did you find us?” Harry questioned. 

“With this,” Ron pulled out the gadget Dumbledore had given him. “It doesn’t just turn off lights. I don’t know how it works, but Christmas morning, I was sleeping in this little pub, keeping away from some snatchers, and I heard it.”

“It?” 

“A voice. Your voice, Hermione, coming out of it.”

With crossed arms she asked him, “And what exactly did I say, I ask?”

“My name,” he responded. “Just my name. Like a whisper. So I took it, clicked it, and this tiny ball of light appeared. Sure enough, it floated towards me, the ball of light. It went right to my chest and straight through me.” He touched his heart. “Right here. I knew it was going to take me where I needed to go, so I disapparated. Came to this hillside. It was dark. I had no idea where I was. I just hoped that one of you would show yourself.” He looked to Harry. “And you did.”

* * *

Later in the black hours of the day, Ron and Harry spoke among themselves while the girls were doing their own thing. Alya was reading the last two chapters of a book called _A Lesson Before Dying_ while Hermione was reading the book that Dumbledore had given her.

All of a sudden, the girls hear something. Almost like a blazing fire. Then, Harry shouted, “Reducio!”

Granger and Cortez glanced at each other briefly before the Gryffindor asked, “What’s going on over there?”

“Nothing!” They both said. She rolled her eyes.

Alya simply smiled. The fun had returned.

  
  



	35. Hogwarts Year Seven Pt. 4: Malfoy Manor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally did another chapter! Yay!

It was midday when Alya flew through the forest. The other three were just hanging around camp. She knows that she doesn’t have a cold anymore. The elixir has been finished. The Ravenclaw said that she’d go and take a walk since she’s still fearful about what they’d think of her massive peregrine wings. She soon noticed that a black cloud was following her. Trigon was gone. These ones had to be death eaters and not shadow demons. 

* * *

When she woke up, she found that she was lying in a bed. A blonde boy was sitting at the edge of it. She couldn’t really tell who it was though. Her vision was blurry. Something hurt. Lazily, she tried to stand but found that she could not. 

The girl felt someone’s hands steady her. Her frame leaned against them for support. 

“Where am I?” She asked weakly. 

“Safe,” a voice answered. It sounded oddly familiar. It wasn’t until she saw his face that she realized who he was.

“Draco?” She questioned the boy.

He didn’t answer her as he laid her on the bed. “Go back to sleep, you’ve been injured.”

She did as asked.

When she woke up again, she laid in bed for a few minutes. When she got up, she felt her side hurting. Alya lifted up her shirt to reveal bandages on her skin. _“So that wasn’t a dream then?”_ She asked herself as she recalled herself getting hit in her side while running away from the death eater. Her wings felt stiff. She stretched them out before concealing them. Looking around, she remembered who the person in the room was. _“Oh my god,”_ she thought. “Draco.”

Quickly, she dashed out of the room and fast-walked down every corridor until she found the person she was looking for. “Draco!” Her voice was loud and demanding. As she charged into the room, she found the golden trio there, along with a lady who’s supposed to be in Azkaban. “Draco what the fuck?” She enunciated, starting to get increasingly worried.

He walked towards her and asked, “Why don’t we talk in the other room? Yeah?” He offered his hand.

Annoyed, she took his hand anyway. Once in the other room, he asked, “Why are you out of bed?”

“Gee, it’s not like I was brought here against my will,” she countered.

“It was for your own protection.”

“My own protection?! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself!”

“Clearly not, you’ve been seriously injured!”

“It doesn’t feel that bad!” She lied in a yell, and immediately regretted it as she groaned, holding her side. 

“Yeah? well, it bloody should! Just go back to your room and rest.”

She signed, letting herself relax. The Ravenclaw then looked to the wall as if seeing through it. "Why are they here too?"

"Never mind them," his voice seemed to calm down as well. "Just go upstairs." The look in his eyes told her that he actually cared.

“Goddamnit,” she said as she realized he was right. The girl started her way back through the house. _“The shadow demon threat is gone,”_ she thought. _“I see no reason why he feels like he has to protect me.”_

On her way back to the stairs, she crossed the room in which Bellatrix LeStrange and the golden trio resided. Draco’s parents were there as well. “You there!” LeStrange shouted at her. Alya stopped as if frightened. “Look at those three,” she instructed. When the girl didn’t, she repeated that same command in a bigger and more threatening voice. Cortez yielded. “You go to school with Draco do you not?”

“I do,” Alya stated calmly.

“Then you recognize these three don’t you?”

“I see… Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, but I cannot tell you who the third is,” the girl lied without any emotion. “If that will be all,” she turned to leave.

“You know,” Bellatrix stopped her with her words. “I’ve heard that Draco plans to court you. Can you confirm?”

“I have heard nothing of the sort.”

“It’s quite the peculiarity, really. I mean my nephew would choose you? A girl not even in the same house? of inferior birth? of blood? Blood. Hell, you even hold a blood curse. Tell me, how can a boy, raised as he was, fall for someone like you?”

“Bellatrix LeStrange,” Alya’s voice was calm, yet loud, “You have insulted me in every conceivable way and can now have nothing further to contribute…” the echo had disappeared as well “I can stand in this room no longer.”

“Funny, last time I saw you, or at least, the unconscious you, you had wings. Where’ve they gone?” LeStrange questioned.

“That’s really none of your concern. Good day, ma'am,” Alya stated rudely. 

As she walked away, she heard LeStrange yell. “Put the _boys_ in the _cellar_! I would like to have a _conversation_ with this one.” She meant Hermione. Alya chose to stay on the stairs and listen.

Her plans were then thwarted by Draco, who forced her up and walked her to her room. It was then Alya noticed that he had her wand. Carefully, she retrieved it out of his pocket and hid it in her free sleeve.

“I told you to get back in bed,” he said. The Slytherin prince then locked the door. 

She waited a minute for him to go away. She still had her wand and could open the lock. Then, Alya pulled out her wand and cast, “Episkey.” Her wounds healed. Just as she was about to cast Alohomora, a house-elf unlocked it.

Alya pointed her wand at him.

“No need to threaten Dobby. Dobby is here to help,” the house-elf stated.

“Thank you, but, how exactly are you going to do that? Besides, I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.” All of a sudden, Alya heard Hermione scream. “Excuse me, I have to help her,” she said. 

The house-elf stepped to the side. The girl was about to leave him when she said. “Go down to the cellar and get them out. I’ll take care of things over here.” She didn’t see him nod. 

The Ravenclaw apparated to the bottom of the stairs and cast, “Expecto Patronum!” The white peregrine falcon emerged from her wand, pushing Bellatrix off of Hermione. The bright light of her charm distracted everyone in the room. “Stupify!” She cast at Draco. “Petrificus Totalus!” She cast at Lucius. But it didn’t hit. In fact, it was blocked. She tried a few different spells. All of which were blocked.

Out of nowhere, the boys of the golden trio appeared with the house-elf. A Gringotts goblin was there as well. Another captive of LeStrange. They fought off Draco’s parents while Alya moved to LeStrange. She was too late.

“Stop!” The mad Slytherin exclaimed. She held a knife to Granger’s throat. “Drop them!” Draco seemed to come to.

Ron and Harry dropped their wands immediately. Alya did after them. The Slytherin witch then told Draco to collect the wands.

“Well well well,” she continued speaking. “Look at what we have here,” she said in a whisper. Granger gasped as the knife moved slightly closer to her throat. “It’s Harry Potter. He’s all bright, shiny, and new again. Just in time for the dark lord. Call him.” All was silent. “Call him,” she spoke louder.

Lucious stepped forward and folded his sleeves back. Just as he was about to call upon the dark lord, there came a strange noise. The people looked up to see a house-elf unscrewing the latch that held a chandelier together. With a scream, LeStrange separated from Hermione. Both got away from the falling glass.

Hermione fell into Ron’s arms as Alya moved to get their wands from Draco. He had somewhat of a firm grip on them. After she had yanked all of them out of his hand, she cast “Stupify,” at Lucius. With all the wands casting it, it became pretty powerful. He flipped in the air.

The captives had all gathered together. Cortez gave them all their wands back.

“Stupid elf,” Bellatrix said. “You could’ve killed me.”

“Dobby never meant to kill, Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure.” Draco’s mom was about to cast a spell, but with the snap of Dobby’s fingers, the wand went right to him.

LeStrange became furious, “How dare! You take a witches wand! How dare you defy your masters!”

The elf replied, “Dobby has no master. Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends.”

The group gathered their hands together and apparated away. Draco and Alya locked eyes as she disappeared with them.

They didn’t appear to be in the same position as they once were. Alya looked around to see both Harry and Ron comforting Hermione. The goblin stood near them.

“Harry Potter,” Dobby said weakly. The Boy Who Lived walked up to him. Fastly limped to him more like.

“Dobby.” It was almost above a whisper. The little creature fell into his arms. Harry kneeled on the sand. “Hold on. Just hold on. Okay?”

Dobby was dying. Harry begged Hermione to help, but she didn’t have anything to help him with.

Luna walked up to the boy. The freed house-elf that lay limp in his arms had no life in him. Alya couldn’t quite hear, but she saw Luna close Dobby’s eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, Potter told the group. “I want to bury him. Properly, without magic.”

He chose a spot in the hill where it was flat. Tall grass surrounded the little clearing. As he dug into the sand with a shovel, Hermione brought up the body wrapped in white cloth. Ron, Alya, and Luna trailed behind her. They were all silent as they placed the body in the hole and covered the opening. They all lingered for some amount of time afterward. 


	36. Hogwarts Year Seven Pt. 5: Alya’s decision

As it turned out, Bill Weasley and Fluer Delacour were already inside. They explained that this house is an Order of the Phoenix safe house, free for the kids to use. Alya found herself a room. 

Once she did, she sling ringed back to the tent in the Forest of Dean to bring everything the quartet had with them back. The Ravenclaw cast, “Reducio,” to make it all small enough for her to place in her hands. When she went back through the portal, she cast, “Engorgio,” and set up the tent outside the house. Alya then grabbed what she needed out of the fabric house and went back inside.

As the Ravenclaw stepped back into the house, she heard Luna state, “Muggles think these keep evil away.” The blonde stood right near the wind chimes. “But they’re wrong.”

“They also hang a small net with feathers and beads above their beds because they think it takes away their nightmares.” Alya interjected, making her presence known. “I’m undecided on that front.” She then looked back at Harry. “Oh, and if you didn’t catch it already, I’ve brought our tent out here. You grab whatever you want from it.”

Harry nodded before crossing the room to say, “I need to talk to the Goblin.” 

Alya spended the next few hours reading while the Golden Trio spoke to the Gringotts goblin and Olivander. Luna did the same.

At one point or another, Alya speaks, breaking the silence in the room. “Luna, you are returning to school right?”

“Yes. Are you thinking you might want to come with me?” The blonde questioned, not even looking up from her magazine.

“Yes.”

“That might not be a good thing, Alya,” she informed her fellow Ravenclaw. “Hogwarts is a very different place now, and you’ve missed a whole simester.”

“I know, I just… I think I might be more helpful if I returned there. I could be a spy for Harry, I could help rally Dumbledore’s Army, I don’t know.”

“It could work. But are you sure?”

“Yes.”

* * *

It was around lunchtime and it seems that the students all felt like eating. Alya scarfed down her food while everyone else ate at a slower pace.

The dark-haired Ravenclaw got up to wash her plate when Hermione spoke. “Alya, what did she mean by you having wings?”

Alya froze. She set the plate down on the counter before turning around. “I knew you people would find out eventually. Perhaps I should have shown you sooner, or when you inquired about the pendant.” Alya took in a deep breath and said, “Nochdaidh.” Her giant peregrine wings appeared behind her. “This is what I meant when I said the spell I used to try and get rid of my Maledictus form only half worked.”

“Why didn’t you tell any of us sooner?” Granger asked.

“Are you kidding?” Alya countered, raising her wings to their full capacity. “Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t think of me as-as a freak.”

Harry stood up. His chair made a harsh noise as it scraped across the floor. “And why the hell would we think that?”

“Almost everyone else around me does,” she told them. Her wings lowered slowly.

He stepped closer to her but she walked backward in tiny steps. “Well I don’t,” he admitted. “I don’t think anyone else here does either.”

She smiled slightly and studied the floor. Alya thinks that he’s just saying things. “Well, in any case,” her eyes met his. “You’re only the second person to admit that out loud.”

“Who’s the first?” He stepped closer.

“Kanin.”

“I see, well, there isn’t any reason to hide your wings…” he looked back at the other people at the table. “from us alright?” His hands had placed themselves on her shoulders.

Cortez laughed a bit. “Alright… Listen. Luna and I have been talking.” Lovegood walked up to her to stand with her fellow housemate. “We decided that it would be best for us to go back to school.”

“Are you nuts?” Ron questioned.

“I’ll be your spy, for however many days you’ll be away from Hogwarts. I can tell Dumbledore’s Army that you people are coming back. Besides, you won’t need me with you for sneaking into Gringotts.”

“She’s right, you know,” the goblin interjected, having just stepped into the room.

In the afternoon, the Golden trio turned themselves into death eaters while Luna and Alya returned to Hogwarts. Marcella was delighted to see her roommate. Most of the Ravenclaws and secret members of Dumbledore’s Army were also happy to have her back. Even though she wasn’t really close to any of them, it seems that she had an impact on them.

Snape gave Alya a very hard time upon her return, giving her all the materials she needed to catch up on, on top of her current work. This prompted her to either skip a few meals, or do the assignments while eating since there was so much. 

Speaking of food, there wasn’t all that much of it. This was due to the Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration. Which states that food can not be created out of thin air. This seemed strange to Alya, as she thought the house-elves would prepare the food and teleport it up, rather than the food appearing out of thin air.

She could tell too, that Draco had something to say to her, he just couldn’t get it out. They haven’t known each other for over a year, despite trying to become closer in previous ones. She knows that her father forced him into being a Death Eater, but there’s something about him that she almost can’t forgive.

Dumbledore’s Army, surprisingly enough, had already been reinitiated by Neville. Marcella pulled her from her studying in Ravenclaw’s Secret Library and took her to the Room of Requirements. There were dueling mats, but there were also hammocks. Neville told her that it’s mostly used as a hideout to get away from all the Death Eater Professors, but they did still hone their skills here and there. 

A secret passageway leads to the Hog’s Head Pub, where Alberforth Dumbledore had been supplying food to them. 

When Neville first lead her back into the Room of Requirement, everyone greeted her, but they had this gloom over them. Some of the more hopeful ones, and closer friends of hers, asked how her time away from Hogwarts was. She told the tale of Trigon and his defeat, and she told them about the progress in Horcruxes.

She also said, “Harry, Hermione, and Ron will be coming back.” A few gasps were heard. Hopeful murmurs and hubbub filled the room, almost making Alya smile.

  
  



	37. Hogwarts Year Seven Pt. 6: The final Battle and Beyond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter is finally here!! Yay!!! Apologies for taking this long!

It’s almost a week later. Alya sent word to Remus that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were coming back to Hogwarts. It’s after class and almost everyone was hanging out in the hammocks and bedding. Save for Alya and Marcella, who thought it could be nice, having a duel. 

Neville appeared through the secret passage way from Hog’s Head Pub. “Hey, listen up you lot,” he said. The door of the passage swung to the wall. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

With Marcella distracted, Alya cast, “Expelliarmus!” A small squeak of surprise came from the mousy-brown haired Ravenclaw. Alya giggled a bit before quieting down. They turned their attention to the new Gryffindor leader.

Seamus said something about it probably being from Alberforth, but Neville just moved aside to reveal the Golden Trio.

Starting with Alya and Seamus, the people clapped and whooped. The four of them were helped down by Alya and Marcella. The Boy Who Lived went around hugging and greeting different people.

Through all that, Neville told Alya to send word to Remus that he had finally arrived. She went over to the radio the Army had stashed and contacted the Order. “New Weather report,” she enunciated. “Lightning has struck. I repeat. Lightning has struck.”

She ceased the report when Harry mentioned “We think it may have something to do with Ravenclaw. Um, it’ll be small, easily concealed… anyone have any ideas?”

Luna, Alya and Marcella glanced at each other and simultaneously stated, “Rowena Ravenclaw’s lost diadem.” They were met with silence.

Cho spoke up, “But guys, it’s been lost for centuries now. There isn’t a person alive today who’s seen it. The Diadem might not even be in the castle anymore.”

“I’m sorry, but can someone tell me what the bloody hell a diadem is?” Ron requested.

“It’s a sort of crown,” Cho explained.

“Like a tiara,” Alya interjected. 

The doors slammed open, revealing Ginny. “Harry,” she half greeted. Everyone became silent.

“Six months and it’s like she hasn’t missed me,” Ron commented.

“She only has eyes for Harry,” Seamus inputted.

“Shut up Seamus.”

“I’ve got bad news,” Ginny went on with it. “Snape knows that Harry’s been spotted at Hogsmeade.”

* * *

Later that evening, every student was called down to the great hall. The children marched in organized lines to the hall. There, Snape addressed the situation. 

“Many of you are surely wondering why I have summoned you at this hour,” he said. “It’s come to my attention that earlier this evening, Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmeade.” There was much hubbub. Alya and Marcella murmured along with the rest of them to fit in.

“Now,” Snape continued speaking. Everyone became quiet. Their heads went down. “Should anyone—student or staff—attempt to aid Mr. Potter, they will be punished in a manner consistent with the severity of their transgressions. Furthermore, any person found to have knowledge of these events, who fails to come forward, will be treated as equally guilty. Not then,” he stepped closer to the huge clusters of students “if anyone has any knowledge of Mr. Potter’s movements, I invite them to step forward… Now.”

Everyone stayed quiet, studying the floor. All of a sudden, Harry emerged from the crowd of Gryffindors. The students murmured.

“It seems,” Harry began to say. “Despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, we still have a little bit of a security problem, Headmaster.” As he was saying this, members of the Order of the Phoenix stepped into the Great Hall. “I’m afraid it’s quite extensive. How dare you stand where he stood. Tell them how it happened that night!” Other students slowly began to back away close to the walls. “Tell them how you looked him in the eye. A man who trusted you. Tell them.”

Snape aimed his wand at The Boy Who Lived. McGonagall stepped in front of the student with her wand at the ready. Surprise in their eyes and voices, all of the students backed away to the walls. McGonagall was the first to attack. She cast flame spells without even uttering its name. Snaps blocked every attack. Next, she took out Snape’s lackeys. With a larger flame hitting him, Snape retreated through the window.

Everyone cheered instantly as McGonagall lit the torches on the wall. That is until the magic sky on the ceiling of the Hall has darkened. A strange noise filled the air. All of a sudden, two girls, one after the other, started to cover their ears and shriek. Then the whispering voice came. He was not a friend. “I know that many of you will want to fight. Some of you might even think that to fight is wise, but this is a folly. Give me Harry Potter. Do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave all cause untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have one hour.”

They all stood there in silence until a Slytherin called out, “What are you waiting for? Someone grab him!”

Ginny, Hermione, and Alya all stepped out in front of the boy, with their wands ready. Slowly, the members of Dumbledore’s Army did the same. 

“Students our of bed!” Yelled Filch as he ran down the hall. “Students our of bed! Students in the corridor!”

“They are supposed to be out of bed, you blithering idiot,” McGonagall told him.

“Oh,” said Filch. “Sorry, Ma’am.”

The Head of Gryffindor went up to him. “As it happens, Mr. Filch, your arrival is most opportune. If you would, I would like you to please lead Miss Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin house out of the hall.”

“Exactly where is it I’ll be leading him to, Ma’am?”

“The dungeons would do.” Most of the other students started cheering and clapping.

As the house filed out, Harry went up to McGonagall. Alya listened in. “I assume you have a reason for returning, Mr. Potter, what is it you need?”

“Time,” Harry responded. “As much as you can give me.”

“Do what you have to do,” she told him. “I’ll secure the castle.”

He was about to walk off when McGonagall stated, “Potter? It’s good to see you.”

The Boy Who Lived smiles a little and said, “It’s good to see you too Professor.” Harry walked out of the room while telling Alya and Neville, “Hold the fort guys.”

The Ravenclaws of Dumbledore’s Army looked between each other. “He’s going to the Ravenclaw Common Room to find the Diadem, isn’t he?” Marcella questioned out loud.

“Yep,” the other three answered. Their minds started spinning.

“And you said, Cho, that no one alive has seen it?” Alya questioned.

“Yeah.”

Their eyes then widened. 

“We have to talk to someone who’s dead!” The Ravenclaws came up with.

“You three stay,” decided Luna. “I’ll go.” She sprinted off into the growing crowd of students.

As everyone prepared, McGonagall animated the stone soldiers. Staff and members of the Order made a shield around the entire school. The dementors fled.

Neville and Alya went to the bridge to keep watch as the shield slowly began to crumble. A large number of Voldemort’s followers ran at the bridge. The shield was still up. Two of them disintegrated while running through the shield. They waited.

“Oh yeah?” Neville called out. “You and whose army?”

“Neville, I don’t think that’ll help,” Alya stated as she readied herself to cast a protective spell. As a small fleck of fire made its way to one of them, Alya cast, “Eldritch protective shield,” she projected. A golden magic circle filled up the entrance to the bridge as the Death Eaters. “Come on Neville.” With her wand, she covered the entire bridge in the protective shield as they both ran towards the school. “That will hold them for a little bit.”

“How are you able to do that?” Neville asked her. “Aren’t the Mystic Arts and our magic completely different?”

“I was able to infuse a mystic string into my wand. Now I can use both kinds of magic with it.”

The Death Eaters yelled victoriously as they slowly but surely kept chipping away at the shield. Once they finally had cut through the golden protective layer, Alya said, “Nochdaidh,” revealing her massive peregrine wings. Ignoring Longbottom’s wide-eyed stare, she yelled, “Get to the Great Hall, I’m blowing up the bridge!”

“What?!” Neville was about to protest.

“Just do as I say Gryffindor!”

With one last look, he went away. She flew around the side of the wooden bridge. A lot of the Death eaters tried to kill her. She blocked and evaded each attack before casting that Korean destruction spell. “Pagoe!” A red Tao Mandala appeared before her wand as a burst of flames and lightning shot out of the mandala and barreled its way towards the bridge. It broke instantly. The ones who were on it, fell to their deaths while the one who had yet to cross, cast spells at her. She again blocked and evaded them.

While flying back, she was met with the faces of some of the students. “What?” She asked them, noticing their stares. “I have the bridge taken care of, let's go.”

With that, she led the group back into the halls. They somehow all got split up as everyone was running everywhere. Alya felt good fighting with her wings. Pretty soon, however, she noticed that a sling ring portal had opened itself. Out stepped Raven, Kanin, Wong, and Stephen.

“Glad you guys could make it,” Alya told the group before casting a levicorpus to a death eater she only sensed was coming right at her. He was dropped over the edge into the ravine. “All of those black clouds are Death Eaters. Anyone who isn’t a student, a staff member, or a member of the Order is a Death Eater!”

With that, she went off to cast spells at more of the enemy. The troll had just broken through the stone soldiers on the front bridge. At a different troll, she cast, “Reducio!” It shrunk. She tossed it to Kanin who sling ringed it right to one of the enemies. The troll’s weapon hitting the guy right in the face.

Dementors tried to get to the school. Someone cast a Patronus Charm while Raven cast a white bird at them. They were pushed back instantly.

As they fought, Alya saw Kanin fight off a bunch of dudes with just an Eldritch sword. He deflected a lot of their magic back at them.

Somehow, in the mix of casting different offensive and defensive spells and moving through the battlefield, she had gotten separated from her little group of Master of the Mystic Arts. She knew that they had to be alive and that they had to have been helping as many people as they could.

Then came Voldemort’s whispering again. “You have fought valiantly, but in vain. I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste. I will command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity.”

Everything became quiet now. As Alya searches for fallen wizards and witches, she comes across Draco, Blaise, and Goyle.

“What the actual fuck,” Alya muttered, loud enough for them to hear as they tried to sneak off. They looked like they had just survived a fire. 

“Hello, darling,” Draco stated. 

“Petrificus Totalus!” She cast at all three of them. Instantly, they froze and fell over. With them taken care of, she went back to searching for the dead.

As she walked into the great hall empty-handed, she saw Remus and Nymphadora laying there dead on the ground. Their hands intertwined. Alya felt her knees give out as the tears started to pour. A few seconds later, a hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Harry. They didn’t speak one word to each other. She watched as Harry walked away.

“There you are,” Kanin spoke. She got up to hug him. “I’m glad you aren’t dead.”

“Me too,” she responded. Raven and Stephen wandered into the room. She ran up to them and embraced them both. Wong came in soon after. Another hug ensued.

“So, that voice that we all heard in our heads…” Stephen questioned, trailing off.

“That was Voldemort,” she explained. 

“And hey, you’re wearing your wings around all the time now, it seems.”

“So it seems.” She smiled, remembering her extra pair of limbs.

About thirty minutes later, people started saying that the Dark Lord has just walked onto the campus. Hagrid was with them. It was early morning now.

Neville, Ginny, and Alya were among the first to face him.

“Neville, who is that Hagrid's carrying?” Ginny questioned.

“Harry Potter is dead!!” Voldemort announced.

“Noo!!” Ginny shrieked. The teen started to run towards Hagrid.

Alya held her back with all her might. She finally got her attention when she yanked the ginger back. “Ginny, I know, I want to too, but don’t.”

“Your friend is right you stupid girl,” Voldemort stated. “Harry Potter is dead.” He stepped closer to the growing number of students and, staff and Order members. “From this day forth, you put your faith in me.” He then turned back to his Death Eaters and walked to them with arms outstretched. “Harry Potter is dead!” They all laughed. Bellatrix’s was especially prominent. The Dark Lord turned back to the students. “And now is the time to declare yourself. Come forward and join us… or die.” Nobody moved.

“Draco,” the Prince’s parents urged him a few times.

The blonde finally caved. “Draco what are you doing?” Alya asked him. He didn’t look or speak to her. _“So every time he said he didn’t want to be like his parents, he was just saying that? No. This has to be something else.”_ He walked towards his parents. 

All of a sudden, Neville stepped up. Alya could see that he had the sorting hat in his hands. The Death Eaters all mocked him before he said he had something to say. Voldemort allowed it. “It doesn’t matter that Harry’s gone. People die every day,” the Gryffindor turned to his peers. Friends, family… Yeah. We lost Harry last night. He’s still with us. So’s Fred, and Remus, Tonks, all of them. They didn’t die in vain.” He then turned to the dark lord saying, “But you will because you’re wrong. Harry is still with us. It’s not over!” Surprisingly, he pulled the sword of Gryffindor from the sorting hat. All of a sudden, Harry dropped from Hagrid’s arms, making some noncommittal noise.

Draco ran over to him yelling, “Potter!” Alya rushed over to them.

“Switched sides, I see,” Harry said as Draco helped him up.

“Yeah well, I grew tired of it,” Malfoy responded. 

Together, they cast, “Confringo!” At the snake. No damage was taken.

“Time to go, boys,” she said, taking the hand of both Harry and Draco, and taking flight. They deflected and shielded themselves against Voldemort’s flame spell. It seemed to follow them as they flew through the air. She brought them to safety.

“Thanks, Alya,” they both said before glancing at each other. They then averted their gaze out of awkwardness. Alya stifled a laugh.

A number of the Death Eaters fled. The students, staff, and Phoenix members sealed themselves inside the castle with a shield around them. 

“We need to kill the snake,” Harry stated.

“You’ll need this,” said Neville, stepping forward with the sword. He was blasted backwards. Voldemort and his pet snake apparated elsewhere.

The fighting had yet again taken itself inside castle walls as the shield came down by Voldemort’s wand. Wands from the two near-polar opposite sides were clashing again. A cacophony of spells was yelled. It was as if the fighting would never stop.

What seemed like, agonizingly, an hour or so later, Alya found herself in the courtyard. Harry and Voldemort were dueling it out while Ron and Hermione were fighting off the snake. Just as she was about to cast a spell at the animal, Neville chopped its head off. It started to dissipate in the air. Cortez peeked at Voldemort. Harry cast the spell that overpowered the dark lord. The Boy Who Lived caught the Elder wand as Voldemort turned to dust. 

The battle was finally over. Unlike most people, Alya stayed outside, taking in the beautifully strange calm after the battle. At this moment, she has no idea what lies ahead, and probably never will. Only Doctor Strange has that ability. She was joined by Draco. Never once did they look at each other. The Slytherin said nothing to the Ravenclaw. The silence seemed to have said it all.

* * *

It’s nineteen years later. Hermione and Alya were among the few who actually wanted to finish school and graduate. Most everyone else, like Harry, Ron, and Neville went straight to being Aurors. Meanwhile, after graduating, Hermione worked her way up in Magical Law Enforcement. Alya also became an Auror. She and Harry dated for a long while, but ultimately, it didn’t work out. They ended their relationship in a big fight that they had to resolve in order to be able to work together as Aurors. Luckily, they’re friends again.

Now, Alya and Kanin stand on Platform 9¾, with their daughter, Mae. Alya saw Draco and Astoria and their son as they walked along the platform. They all waved at each other. Alya and Draco did date for a little while. It was after her fight with Harry. After a few months, they recognized that things wouldn’t work out for them. They have reached an understanding that didn’t escalate into shouting voices and still talk to each other. Astoria and Alya are also friends. Their children play together sometimes.

“Mum,” Mae tugged at Alya’s jacket. Mae was her and Kanin’s daughter. Kanin had been there for both of her breakups. Then they started dating. He was her rock. The two of them eventually tied the knot and had Mae.

“Yes, love?” They stopped walking and she bent down to her daughter’s eye level.

“What if I become a Maledictus?”

“Oh, sweety. If you haven’t turned yet, then you aren’t going to. Okay? Don’t worry. Besides, Albus, Scorpius, and Rose will be in the same year as you. You have nothing to fear but fear itself. Oh, and if you don’t want to get into too much trouble, I’d advise not going into the Forbidden Forest.”

“Are you kidding?” Came Harry’s voice. “The Forbidden Forest was the best thing in the world,” he joked. Alya gave him a slightly cross look before her smile brightened and she hugged him. Ginny and their daughter followed, giving warm greetings. Albus and Rose were about to get onto the train, but stood outside, waiting for Mae.

After the greetings were done, she stepped closer to Harry and Mae, saying. “For the record, it was not.”

“I’d like to agree with that statement,” Ron said, coming up to them. He greeted his school friends and coworkers with hugs. Hermione was close behind. 

“I do believe it is time for them to go,” Kanin pointed out.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Alya stated. She then looked back down at her daughter. “Alright Mae, you ready?” She nodded. “Good. Now, off into the world you go.”

She watched as Mae, Rose, Albus, and two of Harry and Ginny’s older children got into the same car. Everyone waved them off.

Upon looking at the time, she realized that she could be late to work. Quickly, she kissed Kanin and said, “I’ll see you back at the Sanctuary tonight. I’ve got to go to work.”

“Alright. Bye.”

The Ravenclaw smiled to herself. “Race you to work Harry and Ron!” She dashed out of the platform.

“No!” “Shoot!” The boys said as they realized they could very well lose the race to get to the Ministry, yet they kept on going. Hermione sighed and walked after them, staring a brief goodbye to Kanin, who did the same. Draco did the same.

Kanin laughed and shook his head at his wife and her coworkers, remembering how they could still act like children even though they are mature, and respected, adults. Inwardly, he wished his daughter luck for the year and wandered back to the London Sanctuary.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y’all enjoyed!!!


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